As President Donald Trump publicly rebuked his Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard for her statements on Iran, apart from a video in which she warned of “nuclear annihilation”, questions are being raised as to their new equation in light of the Israel-Iran war. A White House insider told POLITICO that Trump does not dislike Tulsi Gabbard as a person but the video made him angry as the video was not authorized and is not on the same message as that of the administration. Trump does not like when people are off message and when people appear to be correcting him — as Gabbard seemed to have corrected the administration’s position on the Israel-Iran war. Gabbard who called Democrat leadership warmongers posted a video on June 10 in which she said political elite and warmongers are “carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers” and the world in “on the brink of nuclear annihilation”. In March, Gabbard testified to Congress about Iran’s nuclear program and said that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon. “The intelligence community continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003,” she had stated.“I don’t care what she said,” Donald Trump said Tuesday, adding that Iran was “very close” to having a nuclear bomb. Gabbard diffused the situation and said her March statement was misconstrued and she said exactly what the president is saying and there is no off-message.
Is Trump considering firing Tulsi Gabbard?
The POLITICO report said that Trump had increasingly mused about nixing Gabbard’s office completely. Trump thinks Gabbard does not add anything to “any conversation”, the report said citing insiders. A Gabbard ally said that she is fully on board with what Trump is trying to do with Iran, and said she has never let her personal views color the advice she provides to the president — nor has she tried to sway Trump to her own point of view.
