Gabbard's sympathetic views toward Russia cause alarm as Trump's pick to lead intelligence services (2024)
apnews.com

... Tulsi Gabbard, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the U.S. intelligence services, in 2022 endorsed one of Russia's main justifications for invading Ukraine: the existence of dozens of U.S.-funded biolabs working on some of the world's nastiest pathogens.

Moscow claimed Ukraine was using the labs to create deadly bioweapons similar to COVID-19 that could be used against Russia, and that Russian President Vladimir Putin had no choice but to invade neighboring Ukraine to protect his country.

In fact, the labs are public and part of an international effort to control outbreaks and stop bioweapons.

Gabbard, a military veteran and a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, later said she wasn't accusing the United States or Ukraine of anything nefarious and was just voicing concerns about protecting the labs.

But to critics in the U.S., including lawmakers in both parties, the comments showed a disturbing willingness to parrot Russian propaganda -- a tendency that has earned Gabbard praise on Russian state TV. ...

Gabbard's office examined voting machines in Puerto Rico
www.nbcnews.com

... The Office of the Director of National Intelligence says it obtained and examined electronic voting machines in Puerto Rico last year to look for possible security vulnerabilities.

Authorities in Puerto Rico voluntarily handed over the equipment to ODNI, which wanted to evaluate the risk to the machinery given that "similar infrastructure is used throughout the United States," an ODNI spokesperson said in an email.

News of the move by the office overseen by Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, follows President Donald Trump's calls to "nationalize" future elections and have the federal government "get involved" in some states where he says there is a risk of fraud.

Reuters first reported the ODNI's action in Puerto Rico. ...