Gabbard's standing in Trump World comes into question

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's strength and standing within the Trump administration is coming under question after the president twice publicly brushed off her testimony that Iran is not close to developing a nuclear weapon, and amid reports of tensions between the two.
President Trump nominated Gabbard as his intelligence director despite some doubts from both parties, and her anti-war stance fits in with the MAGA movement's aversion to getting the U.S. sucked into foreign conflicts.
But the two are not longtime allies, and she increasingly appears to be on the outside looking in as Trump crafts his policy on the Israeli-Iran war.
'She was rewarded for sticking by Trump during the 2024 election and being a fierce advocate for him, particularly as it relates to military intervention,' one Trump ally said of Gabbard, explaining why Trump nominated her to the intelligence post.
A video Gabbard posted on social media last week following a visit to Hiroshima, the Japanese city where the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb near the end of World War II, has come under heavy attention in Trump World.
In the more than three minute video, which was posted to her personal account on social platform X, Gabbard details the devastating consequences of nuclear warfare and accuses 'political elite and warmongers' of 'carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers.'
Some saw Gabbard as getting ahead of the White House's messaging on Iran and Israel when it came to the video.
'It's not a time for politics, but for pragmatism,' the Trump ally said, noting the decisions Trump has to make on whether to involve the U.S. directly in the war by bombing the Fordow nuclear facility. That facility is buried in an Iranian mountain, and only U.S. bombs and flights may be able to get to it.
Gabbard's office has pushed back hard on any suggestion of a split.
Olivia Coleman, Gabbard's press secretary, called such reporting a 'lazy regurgitation of a fake news story' disputed by the White House and Vice President Vance.
'While the Director is busy briefing the President, Vice President, and national security cabinet every day on the ongoing conflict, The Hill continues to spin lies made up by bored, irrelevant anonymous sources with nothing better to do than sow fake division,' Coleman said in a statement.
'The Director remains focused on her mission: providing accurate and actionable intelligence to the President, cleaning up the Deep State, and keeping the American people safe, secure, and free.'
Vance this week praised Gabbard as 'a veteran, a patriot, a loyal supporter of President Trump and a critical part of the coalition he built in 2024.'
But there are also questions from some in Congress about Gabbard's role.
The intelligence director was set to appear before Senate Intelligence Committee leaders this week only to abruptly cancel.
'We were told that she was called to meetings at the White House,' Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters Wednesday.
'So her presence before the Intelligence Committee was canceled today. It'll be postponed to a different time.'
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the vice chair of the panel, said he has 'no idea what our policy is right now towards Iran other than chaos.'
But he also offered some support for Gabbard and her delivery of intelligence information, while questioning whether Trump is listening to her enough.
'I will say this, there has been no change in the intelligence from what Gabbard did say that was true back in March, that [there is] no evidence that Iran had moved towards a weapon, and the point that the president may be taking action with no consultation — we've seen about endless wars in the Middle East, how this happens. And again, I have no idea what his plan is, what our plan is.'
'If this president wants to completely ignore the intelligence community, we are playing in dangerous ground, and this is exactly the way we got ourselves into Iraq,' he said.
Gabbard has long cautioned against U.S. intervention in foreign wars — a position that aligned the former progressive darling with the 'America First' mantra when it comes to foreign policy.
Trump said Thursday he would decide whether to take direct action in the next two weeks, a sign he is still holding out hope for a diplomatic solution.
Gabbard has been in attendance for meetings this past week in the Situation Room, but Trump has reportedly leaned more on the counsel of officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine.
'The president hears all voices across the country, and he makes decisions based on his instincts. And he has always said diplomacy is his first option,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday.
Trump raised eyebrows this past week with his remarks about Gabbard when he was asked about her testimony from March indicating that Iran was not as close to developing nuclear capabilities as Israel claimed.
'I don't care what she said. I think they were very close to having one,' Trump told reporters on Air Force One in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.
On Friday, Trump more explicitly said Gabbard was 'wrong' in her assessment about Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Gabbard was also absent from a meeting at Camp David earlier this month between Trump and his national security team. Gabbard was on National Guard duty at the time, and her allies have noted that she was in attendance for White House meetings the next day.
Well before the latest flare up between Israel and Iran, Gabbard had been critical of Trump during his first term for pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal and assassinating a top general.
Though the latest video didn't reference the matter, some in the White House saw it as off-message — a quality known to irritate the president.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said that while Gabbard's anti-interventionist stance could depart from Trump's on the Iran-Israeli war, Gabbard's pattern in office has been to curate intelligence to suit the White House's prerogatives rather than to contradict the president.
'It seems like she's, at times, on the other side of things from the president, which, you know, I didn't vote for her,' he said.
'She tends to find the answer, and then goes and tries to find the evidence to support her answer. [That's] exactly the opposite way you should be analyzing national security issues, right? You should start with the intelligence and then try to come to the conclusion. … she goes to the conclusion first and then tries to come up with the evidence to support her conclusion. That's not helpful to this president or any president.'
An administration official said it is Gabbard's job to provide Trump with timely, accurate and actionable intelligence, and she will continue to do so.
The White House has shunned any suggestion Trump has lost faith in any member of his national security team — remarks that come amid reporting that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has also not played a key role in mapping out a response.
'President Trump's Peace through Strength foreign policy is a tried-and-true approach that keeps America safe and deters global threats,' White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
'Efforts by the legacy media to sow internal division are a distraction that will not work,' Cheung added. 'President Trump has full confidence in his entire exceptional national security team.'

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Washington Post

25 minutes ago

• Washington Post

Israeli strikes on Iran cap dramatic shift in Mideast strategic balance

JERUSALEM — While the world braces for President Donald Trump's decision on bombing Iran and the tectonic waves that could follow, here in the Middle East, the earthquake has already struck. Israel's go-for-broke attacks on Iran launched just over a week ago — after decades of intense but largely covert conflict between the two powers — have dramatically shifted the strategic balance in a way that will probably prevail whether American bombers enter the fray or not, according to analysts in Israel, across the region and beyond.

Yahoo

26 minutes ago

• Yahoo

Tulsi Gabbard Flips Sides in MAGA Civil War Over Iran's Nuclear Capabilities

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has flipped her stance on Iran after President Donald Trump nuked her intelligence as 'wrong.' Gabbard told the Senate Intelligence Committee on March 25 that there was no intelligence to suggest Iran was building nuclear weapons, though the country had enriched its uranium to higher levels. Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's June 12 'preemptive' strike on Iran—which he justified by saying that the country has a 'secret plan' to weaponize uranium—Trump sided with Israel's countervailing position. On two separate occasions this week, Trump rebuffed Gabbard's earlier assessment of Iran's nuclear program. 'I don't care what [Gabbard] said,' Trump said aboard Air Force One. 'I think they were very close to having one.' In another comment on Wednesday, the president added that Iran was 'a few weeks' away from turning their uranium into a weapon, echoing similar sentiments shared by Netanyahu. Then on Friday, Gabbard fell in line with Trump, attacking the media for having the gall to believe what she said. 'The dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division,' Gabbard wrote to her 600K followers. 'America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the assembly.' She added, 'President Trump has been clear that can't happen, and I agree.' Gabbard included a clip of what she called her 'full testimony,' which has since racked up 8.9 million views. The world has been thrown into a state of limbo while Trump weighs a decision on whether to get the United States involved in strikes on Iran, a decision the country warned would be 'very dangerous.' In a statement read on Thursday by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Trump said he would make his decision 'within the next two weeks' based on the fact that there 'is a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future.' Reuters reported that the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with a group of European diplomats in Geneva on Friday for nuclear talks.

Newsweek

35 minutes ago

• Newsweek

US B-2 Stealth Bombers on the Move Across Pacific

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. As the fighting between Israel and Iran continues, six B-2 stealth bombers departed Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and are en route to Guam, according to U.S. officials confirmed to Fox News and flight tracking data analyzed by multiple news outlets. Newsweek reached out the Pentagon's Defense Press Operations office and the White House via email on Saturday for comment. NITRO KC135s returning to Altus AFB, OK B2s MYTEE11 FLT & MYTEE21 FLT continuing westbound to destination Andersen AFB, Guam. — Aircraft Spots (@AircraftSpots) June 21, 2025 Why It Matters This month, the conflict between Israel and Iran has escalated dramatically, with President Donald Trump calling for the evacuation of Tehran, Iran's capital city home to over 9.5 million people. Israel initially struck Tehran and several other cities in "Operation Rising Lion," a campaign it said was meant to preempt a planned Iranian attack and disrupt Iran's nuclear capabilities. Iran, which has said its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, has since retaliated, though Israeli defense systems—bolstered by U.S. military technology—have intercepted about 99 percent of incoming missile fire, according to Israeli officials on Saturday morning in an X, formerly Twitter, post. Iran hit a hospital in southern Israel on Thursday, and local reports noted that buildings in Tel Aviv were on fire from Iranian missiles on Friday. Israel's strikes have killed at least 585 people in Iran—including 239 civilians—and wounded another 1,300, according to a human rights group that has long tracked the country, Washington-based Human Rights Activists. Iran's government has not offered overall casualty figures. Israel has said 24 people have been killed since Friday and 500 more have been wounded, according to Israeli officials. The U.S. is Israel's closest ally, providing billions of dollars in military aid annually. Following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Iran disintegrated, and the two countries have held strained, distrusting relations over the past four-decades. Iran's nuclear program has long been a focal point of U.S. and Israeli concern, with Iran insisting its efforts are solely for energy purposes. The second Trump administration had been involved in talks with Iran ahead of the conflict, although no formal diplomacy has come out of it. During his first presidency, Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known as the Iran Nuclear Deal. B-2s and Bunker-Buster Bombs The B-2 can carry two 15-ton bunker-buster bombs—which only the U.S. possesses, making these aircraft critical to any potential operation against Iran's most fortified nuclear sites. Officials and experts have suggested that the U.S.'s 30,000-pound (13,000kg) bunker-buster bomb is the only weapon capable of destroying the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, a facility believed to be central to Tehran's nuclear program and carved deep into a mountain. The movement signals the U.S. may be positioning military assets to provide Trump with operational options as the Israel-Iran conflict intensifies. A B-2 Stealth Bomber opens the 135th Rose Parade Presented by Honda on January 1, 2024, in Pasadena, California. A B-2 Stealth Bomber opens the 135th Rose Parade Presented by Honda on January 1, 2024, in Pasadena, To Know The bombers apparently refueled after launching from Missouri, suggesting they launched without full fuel tanks due to a heavy onboard payload, which could potentially be bunker-buster bombs. The deployment comes as Trump prepares to meet with his national security team to discuss potential U.S. involvement in Israeli strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities. According to The New York Times, air traffic control communications showed the B-2 aircraft taking off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. Iran's most advanced and hardened nuclear facility, the Fordow plant in the country's northwest, is a fortress. Built inside a mountain some 300 feet underground and reinforced by layers of concrete, the plant, which is the most likely target of a potential American strike, is impenetrable by any bomb except the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP). The B-2 Spirit, a U.S. stealth bomber, is currently the only aircraft designed to deploy the GBU-57 and can carry two bunker buster bombs at a time. Military experts note that destroying such fortified targets would likely require multiple precision strikes at the exact same location. Earlier on Saturday, Israel launched a wave of airstrikes against missile sites and a nuclear facility in Iran, while Iran fired a barrage of ballistic missiles and launched drones into Israel. What People Are Saying Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard wrote on X on Friday: "America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the assembly. President Trump has been clear that can't happen, and I agree." President Donald Trump earlier this week wrote on Truth Social: "We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don't want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a national address, in part: "We warn America of the consequences of engaging in war, because it will suffer severe damage if it decides to do so. War is met with war, bombing with bombing, and strike with strike." Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi on X on Wednesday: "Iran solely acts in self-defense. Even in the face of the most outrageous aggression against our people, Iran has so far only retaliated against the Israeli regime and not those who are aiding and abetting it. Just like Netanyahu manufactured this war to destroy diplomacy, the world should be highly alarmed about increasing attempts by the failing Israeli regime to get others to bail it out and to expand the flames to the region and beyond." What Happens Next Trump will make a decision on whether to have the U.S. join Israel's war with Iran "within the next two weeks," according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who told reporters Thursday that the decision is based on Trump's view of whether Iran "may" or "may not" agree to a diplomatic resolution through negotiations over its nuclear program. The president is expected to receive intelligence briefings with the National Security Council (NSC) over the weekend as he considers possible actions against Iran.