Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) spoke out Friday against a comment from Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) that former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii), President-elect Trump’s pick for national intelligence director, is “a Russian asset,” but he held back any endorsement of the nominee.
During a Bloomberg appearance, Himes called the comment a “hyperbole” and said there is “no reason to believe” such a claim.
“There is also no reason to believe that she has the experience or the temperament necessary to have the top position in our intelligence community,” he continued. “But look, when we start throwing around loose language like that, what we do is we degrade the quality of the really important conversations that we do need to have about our national security.”
Gabbard, a former Democrat, has been accused of peddling Russian narratives and expressed beliefs that oppose conclusions from U.S. intelligence related to Russia and Ukraine. She has shared content suggesting that the U.S. was involved in making biological weapons in Ukraine and met seven years ago with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, who has been accused of using chemical weapons on Syrian civilians.
Himes joins several other legislators in condemning Wasserman Shultz’s comment, made on MSNBC last month. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) previously said it was a “slur” to call Gabbard a “Russian asset.”
Several aides and senators say Gabbard’s path through the nomination process will be incredibly difficult due to her past remarks about the Ukraine war that were sympathetic to Moscow and echoed by Russian state media.
A group of nearly 100 former national security officials urged the Senate to “carefully scrutinize” her nomination, questioning her experience level and views on the Middle East.
