CNN
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Donald Trump’s Senate allies say the issue could be the next test of the president-elect’s attempts to field provocative candidates and Republicans’ willingness to thwart them. , has rallied to defend Tulsi Gabbard, whom he nominated to head the U.S. intelligence community.
Gabbard and another controversial Trump pick – Pete Hegseth to head the Pentagon – put the spotlight on Matt Gaetz, whom Trump rejected as his attorney general nominee, on Sunday. As a result, it came under intense scrutiny.
“I think she’s compromising,” Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth warned of Gabbard on CNN’s “State of the Union.” The Illinois senator brought up Gabbard’s visit to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2017 and the policy positions she took that appeared to reflect Russian propaganda talking points.
But Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin, speaking with Dana Bash on the same show, called such claims “ridiculous” and “downright dangerous” and called on Duckworth to retract.
The unprecedented public debate over whether the president-elect’s appointment to oversee the U.S. intelligence community amounts to property theft is a foreshadowing of the chaos that will likely lie ahead in his second term next year.
But these are not the only questions swirling around Washington heading into this week’s Thanksgiving holiday due to President Trump’s political return.
President Trump’s choice of Hegseth also faces uncertainty following the release last week of a 2017 police report detailing an alleged sexual assault in California. The former Fox News anchor said his encounter with the woman in California was consensual. He denied wrongdoing and was not charged. One of the big unknowns is that after it quickly became clear that Gates would not have enough votes to confirm him amid allegations of sexual misconduct of his own, Republican senators The question is whether they are prepared to challenge Trump’s judgment again. Gates denies that. One theory suggests that the next Republican majority will be more than just a rubber stamp for an all-powerful president. But with Gaetz’s resignation, already widely disliked in Congress, senators may feel he is responsible for the president-elect’s other highly controversial choices. Meanwhile, President Trump’s new attorney general pick, Pam Bondi, has been welcomed by many Republicans, suggesting she has an easier path to confirmation than Gaetz. However, the former Florida attorney general’s past pledge that “prosecutors will be prosecuted” suggests that the next president will use the power of the Justice Department to seek retribution against those who investigated him. There are high expectations that the plan will be promoted. Trying to steal the 2020 election. The sense that the president-elect is very serious about his vow to dismantle the government was reinforced Friday night by the election of Russell Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget again. Mr. Vought was one of the principal authors of Project 2025. Project 2025 is a conservative blueprint that President Trump repudiated during the campaign, which included destroying the bureaucracy. President Trump has already tasked Tesla pioneer Elon Musk and former Republican primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy with designing massive government cuts. With most of President Trump’s shortlists complete and formal nominations and confirmations pending, the planned policy blitz and how President Trump’s use of power will affect the United States and the world. It is attracting attention. For example, while opting for massive disruption in some areas, Hedge Fund Manager Scott Bessent was appointed as Treasury Department and Howard Lutnick, head of financial services giant Cantor Fitzgerald, was appointed as Secretary of Commerce. Some of his picks in the business world have been on Wall Street’s radar, including his top picks. They allay market concerns about President Trump’s planned tariff hikes that are aimed at hurting foreign trade competitors but could spike inflation and hurt U.S. consumers. He will play a role. A week after the alarming escalation of the war in Ukraine, President Trump’s vow to end the fighting is shaping up to be one of the first major foreign policy tests of his new term. “Where is this escalation going?” asked Rep. Mike Walz, the incoming national security adviser, on “Fox News Sunday.” The Florida Republican added that the conflict has escalated to World War I trench warfare and that President Trump is “incredibly concerned about the carnage that’s happening there.” And… how do we restore deterrence and how do we bring about peace? ” President Trump has vowed to end the war quickly, but in Ukraine he is threatening Russian President Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of a sovereign democracy by allowing Russia to retain vast tracts of territory occupied by Russia. There are concerns that they may enter into a legitimizing agreement. The pace of Trump’s staffing and the ideology of his picks suggest a political whirlwind will hit the nation’s capital when he takes office on January 20th. But after Mr. Trump won the electoral college and the popular vote, Republicans, who gained a majority in the Senate and House of Representatives, insist he has the power to make sweeping changes. Still, President Trump’s apparent determination to use power to exact personal vendettas may leave his administration focused enough to carry out the sweeping government reforms he is promising. This raises the question of what to do. And after an election focused in part on the issue of economic insecurity among voters, the president-elect is poised to overreach that will trip up presidents who think they are on a mission. I wonder if it is?
The choice of Gabbard as director of national intelligence reflects Trump’s deep distrust of the intelligence community, which he believed colluded against him over the Russia investigation during his first term.
Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, has little experience working with high-level intelligence agencies. And she has taken a stand against the U.S. spy community. She defended Julian Assange and Edward Snowden, who are behind the biggest US national security breach of the 21st century. She also gave a discussion of the wars in Ukraine and Syria that seemed closer to the Russian government’s foreign policy position than that of the United States.
And CNN reported Friday that Gabbard was once on the Transportation Security Administration’s watch list — even if it was for benign reasons, which would be highly unusual for a candidate for the top job.
The 2020 Democratic presidential primary candidates are currently embracing President Trump’s “America First” philosophy. Democrats, seeking support after a disastrous election, appear to view her selection as vulnerable, or at least an opportunity to make Trump pay a political price for choosing her.
Duckworth said there were questions about whether Gabbard was a Russian agent, adding: …U.S. intelligence agencies have identified her as having troubling ties to enemies of the United States. So my concern is that she couldn’t pass the background check. ”
California Sen.-elect Adam Schiff, who was appointed to the House Intelligence Committee by Republican leaders last year, also criticized Gabbard’s nomination and criticized her on Sunday’s NBC show “Meet the Press.” He described his comments as “a person with very questionable judgment and no experience.” ”, he also mentioned his visit to Syria.
However, Marin, who had doubts about Gates’ selection, forcefully defended Gabbard from Duckworth. “It’s wrong for her to say such ridiculous and blatantly dangerous words,” the Oklahoma Republican said on “State of the Union.” He said Gabbard “is commanding reserve forces here in Oklahoma and Missouri.” If she put herself in danger, couldn’t pass a background check, couldn’t do her job, she wouldn’t still be in the Army. ”
Missouri Sen. Eric Schmidt also defended Gabbard on NBC, saying, “I think it’s very interesting that people with different political views are now being used as Russian agents.” Ta. That’s completely ridiculous. ” Republican senators said such accusations were insulting. “Frankly, it’s a slander,” he added.
Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty also told ABC News’ “This Week” that while he didn’t agree with Gabbard on everything, he believed she was responsible for carrying out Trump’s policies, not her own opinions. He said that there is. “President Trump will fire people who don’t do their jobs properly,” said Hagerty, who served as ambassador to Japan during the Trump administration’s first term.
Still, it’s clear there is some misgivings about Gabbard’s qualifications among Republican senators who will be asked to confirm her nomination once President Trump takes office.
“There’s going to be a lot of questions,” Oklahoma’s senior senator, James Lankford, told Bash on “State of the Union.” He added: “She met with Bashar (al) Assad. We would like to know what the purpose of that meeting was and what direction she took as a member of parliament. We would like to give you an opportunity to discuss your comments and fully understand their content.”
Republican senator: ‘There will be a lot of questions’ about President Trump’s nominee for intelligence director
But Lankford said Trump’s selection of Bondi, which amplified the president-elect’s false claims about 2020 election fraud and his claims that the Justice Department was weaponized against him, There was almost no resistance.
“I think it’s perfectly appropriate for Pam Bondi to step in, or whoever the attorney general is, to step in and say, ‘We’re not going to tolerate anyone trying to undermine the president.'” I belong,” Lankford told CNN. “It’s not about attacking the president, it’s about actually having balance and focusing on justice.”
Bondi’s selection comes as the Trump campaign suggests he will replace FBI Director Christopher Wray, who still has three years left in his term. The president-elect has long maintained that the agency conspired against him, particularly after he left office and was accused of storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort, even though he lost the 2020 election. This was especially true after his indictment for trying to stay in power.
One candidate for the new FBI director is Kash Patel, one of President Trump’s most outspoken supporters who served as chief of staff to the former acting secretary of defense during his first term. Although Patel is considered one of President Trump’s most ardent supporters of the MAGA movement, multiple sources familiar with Trump’s transition process have expressed deep concern about his potential nomination. CNN’s Caitlan Collins reported last week. As FBI director, Patel would be in a position to investigate Trump’s enemies and purge career civil servants who he and the president-elect believe are part of a corrupt “deep state.”
CNN reported last week that one option would be to choose someone easier to approve for the top post, with Patel as deputy director. However, while Senate confirmation is possible in that case, the question of who would be acceptable to President Trump would still remain.
Patel left no doubt on Fox Business’s “Sunday Morning Futures” that he intends to revisit past investigations. “Produce the documents. Produce the evidence. We’re only half way down the Russiagate hole,” Patel said. “The public needs to know that the FBI will be restored by knowing the full extent of what they have done to illegally monitor them. People need to know that the FBI will be restored by knowing the full extent of what they have done to illegally monitor them. We need to know that there will be no more attacks on places of worship.”
