(NewsNation) — Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for director of national intelligence.
He made the announcement Wednesday, saying Gabbard has “fought for our Country and the Freedoms of all Americans.”
The director of national intelligence position was created in 2004 as part of a series of changes to U.S. intelligence following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Associated Press reported.
Gabbard, according to NewsNation partner The Hill, would be tasked with overseeing an office that helps coordinate actions among all the U.S. intelligence agencies, if confirmed. She would also be responsible for putting together the president’s daily brief, which gives the commander-in-chief the information needed to make security decisions.
Gabbard’s background
Born in the U.S. territory of American Samoa on April 12, 1981, Gabbard was raised in Hawaii, spending a year in the Philippines.
When she was 21 years old, she was elected to Hawaii’s state House of Representatives, serving for one term from 2002-2004. She left after one term when her National Guard unit deployed to Iraq.
In 2012, Gabbard was elected as the first Hindu member of the U.S. House of Representatives and was sworn into office with her hand on the Bhagavad Gita. Her election also made Gabbard the first American Samoan elected to Congress.
Gabbard is married to cinematographer Abraham Williams and her father, Mike Gabbard, is a Hawaii state senator.
Gabbard’s military history
For more than two decades, Gabbard has served in the Army National Guard. Deployed to Iraq and Kuwait during her time in the Army National Guard, she is now currently in the Reserves.
Gabbard received a Combat Medical Badge in 2005 for what the Hawaii National Guard said was “participation in combat operations under enemy hostile fire in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III.”
Gabbard’s presidential run
As a Democrat, Gabbard ran in the party’s 2020 presidential primary, on a progressive platform that opposed U.S. involvement in foreign military conflicts.
During one primary debate, Gabbard criticized another candidate, then-Sen. and current Vice President Kamala Harris’ record as a prosecutor. Harris lost to Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Gabbard ultimately endorsed current U.S. President Joe Biden to become the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee.
“I know Vice President Biden and his wife and am grateful to have called his son Beau, who also served in the National Guard, a friend,” Gabbard said in a campaign email at the time, according to Axios. “Although I may not agree with the vice president on every issue, I know that he has a good heart and is motivated by his love for our country and the American people.”
Gabbard changes parties
Following the 2020 presidential election, Gabbard announced she was becoming an independent, saying the party is “under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers who are driven by cowardly wokeness.”
Gabbard talked to NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo about how she got a mixed reaction from colleagues when she left the Democratic party.
“The thing that’s been most heartening is hearing from Americans across the country … who felt deeply moved, who felt like I was bringing voice to concerns that they were feeling in a really visceral way but too afraid in this cancel culture to speak up,” Gabbard said on “CUOMO” in 2022. “That’s where I see opportunity for us as a country to be able to step up, speak the truth and exercise our freedoms.”
After becoming an independent, Gabbard campaigned for several high-profile Republicans, became a contributor to Fox News and started a podcast.
Earlier this year, Gabbard endorsed Trump for president and helped him prepare for a debate against Harris. At a Trump campaign rally in North Carolina, Gabbard said she was officially becoming a Republican. Later, she was named a co-chair for the team helping to transition Trump back to the White House.
Criticism of Gabbard over foreign affairs
Some of Gabbard’s beliefs when it comes to Russia and Ukraine counter those drawn by U.S. intelligence, The Hill writes.
She has shared posts encouraging a Russian narrative suggesting the United States was involved in Ukraine developing biological weapons. A fact check by The New York Times found that this accusation is “baseless.”
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, slammed Gabbard for “parroting Russian propaganda,” stating that her “treasonous lies may well cost lives.” Former Ill. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican, called her “traitorous.”
Gabbard, NBC wrote, said in another social media post that “Biolabs,” “bioweapons labs,” and “bioweapons’ are 3 very different things” and that she was being misunderstood. She accused her critics of censorship.
“When powerful, influential people make baseless accusations of treason, a crime punishable by death, in order to intimidate, silence and censor those who speak the truth, it has a chilling effect on our democracy,” she was quoted by NBC as saying.
Gabbard has criticized the Biden administration’s actions in the Russia-Ukraine war. The meeting she had in 2017 with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, who was accused of using chemical weapons on his own citizens during the country’s civil war, triggered outrage, The Hill said.
In response, Gabbard argued Assad was not an enemy of the United States.
The Associated Press and NewsNation partner The Hill contributed to this report.