Donald Trump nominated former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard to be his director of National Intelligence.
The former Army lieutenant colonel who served in Hawaii in Congress was a candidate for a top national security position after becoming a Trump ally.
The 43-year-old formally announced she joined the Republican Party at a campaign rally alongside Trump in the summer.
She will be nominated to succeed current DNI Avril Haines in the Senate-confirmed position.
Gabbard was a lifelong Democrat and served the party as a U.S. representative from Hawaii from 2013 to 2021. She rose to national prominence during her unsuccessful 2020 Democratic primary bid.
Donald Trump nominated former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard to be his director of National Intelligence
After leaving the Democratic Party in 2022 and announcing her move to the Republican Party two years later, Gabbard became a Trump supporter and surrogate.
She became co-chair of Trump’s transition team after his historic victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Gabbard has been vocal in her criticism of the “militarization” of the intelligence community, especially during President Joe Biden’s administration against Trump and his circle.
He claims that Democrats believe that the US intelligence services are capable of acting without oversight and “screwing” Americans with whom they disagree.
“I’ll never forget when Chuck Schumer warned on television, ‘Trump is an idiot for messing with the intelligence community because they can screw you six ways starting Sunday,'” Gabbard said during remarks at Young Americans for Liberty’s (YAL). Revolution 2022 Event in August 2022.
He continued: ‘The highest-ranking Democrat in the United States Senate is essentially warning the American people not to mess with the intelligence community because of how much they can ruin it. As if they were an autonomous governing body that is accountable to no one.
‘How can this be America?’ she questioned. “This goes against these ideals of a government of, by and for the people.”
Gabbard announced alongside Donald Trump over the summer that she was joining the Republican Party and has since been a staunch supporter and surrogate for the president-elect.
Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the US Army National Guard.
Trump’s announcement about Gabbard on Wednesday helps begin filling out his new team related to national security and defense.
He plans to nominate Fox News host Pete Hegseth as his defense secretary and Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) as his national security adviser.
Trump is nominating North Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to lead his Department of Homeland Security.
And earlier this week, the former and future president announced that his former DNI John Ratcliffe would lead the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Gabbard was once considered a contender for Trump’s vice presidential pick.
Gabbard was at the center of controversy in 2022 for pushing claims that Ukraine was working on a biological weapon.
Critics claimed the former congresswoman was echoing Russian propaganda by saying she was “deeply concerned” about biological laboratories in Ukraine, that Moscow would attack and spread “deadly pathogens.”
The Kremlin used claims of “US-funded biological laboratories” as one of its many justifications for initially invading Ukraine in February 2022.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) made some of the harshest comments against Gabbard, accusing her of “parroting false Russian propaganda” and claiming that her “treasonous lies could very well cost lives.”
Tulsi Gabbard, then a Democratic presidential primary candidate, is seen surfing on New Year’s Day 2020 off the coast of New Hampshire in a winter wetsuit.
Born in American Samoa and raised in Hawaii, Gabbard is an avid surfer.
Gabbard, the fourth of five children, was born in American Samoa but her family moved to Hawaii when she was two years old.
She is an avid surfer and, while running for president in the 2020 Democratic primary, surfed off the coast of the state of New Hampshire in the early New England primary.
He put on a “winter wetsuit” and dove into waters over 40 degrees.
“There is absolutely no better way to start the day and the year,” the veteran surfer said after catching some waves at Hampton Beach in the Granite State. ‘I highly recommend it. “If we could go surfing every day and attract everyone, that would be great.”