'Not a place for Russia, China sympathiser': Nikki Haley on Tulsi Gabbard as intelligence chief

Former South Carolina Governor and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has slammed the selection of pro-Russia former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard as the intelligence chief in the incoming Trump administration.

Earlier this month, President-elect Donald Trump shockingly named Gabbard, a Democrat-turned-Republican cheerleader of Trump, as the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) in his incoming administration. Her support of US adversaries Russia and China has led to anxieties among US leaders and allies alike.

Flagging Gabbard’s yearslong parroting of Russian propaganda and softness for China, Haley in her ‘Nikki Haley Live’ show said that the position of DNI was “not a place for a Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathiser”.

Haley said, “DNI has to analyze real threats. Are we comfortable with someone like that at the top of our national intelligence agencies?”

Haley was a Republican presidential candidate who was the last to drop out in primaries. After criticising him for years, she endorsed him in the 2024 presidential election. She had previously served in the first Trump administration as the US envoy to the United Nations (UN).

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‘Every bit of that’s Russian propaganda’: Haley on Gabbard’s views

For her yearslong defence of Russia, China, and Iran and parroting of their talking points, Haley said that “every bit” her views amount to adversaries’ propaganda.

In recent years, Gabbard has blamed the Joe Biden administration of the United States and the Nato for the Russian war on Ukraine. She has further peddled Russian disinformation about US-funded biolabs in Ukraine and blamed President Joe Biden for wanting Russia to invade. She has also called for softening of the US policy on China.

Previously, Gabbard has defended the actions of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in Syria and has been skeptical of the widely-reported and -acknowledged chemical attacks of the Assad regime on Syrians during the civil war.

In her show, Haley listed the yearslong support of Gabbard for US adversaries: “She opposed ending the Iran nuclear deal. She opposed sanctions on Iran. She opposed designating the Iran military as terrorists who say ‘Death to America’ every single day…In Congress, Tulsi criticised Trump’s ‘authoritarian’ strike against Qasem Soleimani. Now, I will remind you, he was considered the master of death in Iran. She said he had no justification whatsoever for killing him. She tried to limit Trump’s war powers against Iran. She tried to cut our annual defense budget so that we couldn’t punish Iran and hinder their influence.”

Do you really know everything you need to know about Tulsi Gabbard? We break it down here. Watch now #NikkiHaleyLive on @SiriusXM @Spotify @ApplePodcasts #TulsiGabbard #NationalSecurity #Intelligence pic.twitter.com/Rh1O26emyH

— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) November 20, 2024

While tearing into her record, Haley also recalled Gabbard’s fawning relationship with Assad.

“She went to Syria in 2017 for a photo op with Bashar al-Assad while he was massacring his own people. She said she was skeptical that he was behind the chemical weapons attacks,” said Haley, recalling that while Gabbard was being chummy with Assad, she was highlighting the war crimes at the UN.

“You can go back and look at a speech I gave holding up pictures of dead children who had been killed by chemical attacks, choked to death for her to say that Assad was not behind that. Literally, everything she said about that were Russian talking points. Every bit of that was Russian propaganda,” said Haley.

Coming to Ukraine where Gabbard was repeated Russian propaganda and Vladimir Putin’s talking points since before the invasion, she said Gabbard has had a symbiotic relationship with Russia and China.

Haley said that after Gabbard blamed Nato for the Russian invasion for Ukraine, “the Russians and the Chinese echoed her talking points and her, her interviews on Russian and Chinese television”.

Concluding her case against Gabbard, Haley said: “She has defended Russia. She has defended Syria. She has defended Iran, and she has defended China. No, she has not denounced any of these views — none of them. She hasn’t taken one of them back…This is not a place for a Russian Iranian Syrian Chinese sympathizer. DNI has to analyze real threats. Are we comfortable with someone like that at the top of our national intelligence agencies?

Trump’s selection of Gabbard has alarmed US allies, who have been reported to be concerned whether they can share intelligence with the Untied States with a pro-Russia intelligence chief. As Russian war on Ukraine has plunged Europe into the worst security crisis since World War II, Europe is particularly alarmed at the selection of Gabbard, who is friendly with Russia instead of longstanding allies.