WASHINGTON — **Tulsi Gabbard**, selected by President-elect **Donald Trump** to lead the United States intelligence services, endorsed a principal justification for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022: the existence of numerous U.S.-funded biolabs working on some of the world’s most dangerous pathogens.
**Moscow claimed that Ukraine was using these labs to create deadly biological weapons akin to COVID-19 that could be deployed against Russia, asserting that President Vladimir Putin had no choice but to invade Ukraine to protect his country.**
In reality, these laboratories are public and are part of an international initiative to monitor outbreaks and prevent biological warfare.
**Gabbard, a military veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, later stated that she was not accusing the U.S. or Ukraine of any wrongdoing; she was merely expressing concerns about the security of the laboratories.**
However, critics in the United States, including legislators from both parties, argue that her comments demonstrate a troubling willingness to echo Russian propaganda—a trend that has earned Gabbard praise on Russian state television.
Gabbard’s past remarks supporting Russia, along with her secret meetings with Syrian President Bashar Assad, a close ally of Russia and Iran, are now under renewed scrutiny from Democrats and national security analysts. They fear that, as director of national intelligence under Trump, she could provide Russia with a significant advantage, undermine Ukraine, weaken U.S. national security, and jeopardize intelligence ties with allies.
**“Gabbard, like Gaetz, is like a hand grenade ready to explode,”** said John Bolton, former national security advisor to Trump, referring to Matt Gaetz, Trump’s choice for attorney general. **“Republicans who rally around those grenades are risking their own personal reputations and places in history.”**
Gabbard argues that U.S. assistance to Ukraine endangers global security by antagonizing Russia. **She has criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as corrupt and expressed sympathy for Russia’s position, given Ukraine’s desire to join NATO, the Western military alliance.**
**“This war and suffering could have been easily avoided if the Biden/NATO Administration had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns,”** she tweeted at the onset of the Russian invasion in 2022.
Democrats assert that Gabbard’s comments represent a pro-Russian inclination that poses a national security threat if she is confirmed by the Senate.
**“Do you really want her to have access to all of America’s secrets and our defense intelligence agencies when she has been so clearly in Putin’s pocket?”** asked Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren on MSNBC. **“That has to be a resounding no.”**
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was established after the September 11, 2001 attacks to coordinate the country’s intelligence agencies and serve as the president’s principal intelligence advisor.
**Gabbard and Trump’s transition team did not respond to requests for comment.** She has previously defended her actions, stating that her military service—over two decades in the National Guard, including deployments to Iraq and Kuwait—has made her skeptical of military interventions.
**Gabbard has also defended Trump’s relationship with autocrats like Putin, arguing that it shows Trump has “the courage to engage with adversaries, dictators, allies, and partners alike in the pursuit of peace, viewing war as a last resort.”**
**Her meetings with Assad in 2017 angered many of her Democratic colleagues, who claimed her visit legitimized a leader accused of war crimes and who has served as an ally and host for Russia and Iran in the Middle East.**
Assad welcomed the Russian military intervention in Syria in 2015 to crush a popular uprising against him. Russian forces and allied Iranian militias have remained, using Syria as a base for attacks on U.S. troops and their allies. The United States has severed diplomatic relations with Syria and imposed severe sanctions on Assad for the brutality with which he, Russian warplanes, and allied Iranian forces crushed the uprising, leading to 500,000 deaths.
Gabbard ran for president in 2020 before withdrawing and endorsing Democrat Joe Biden, who defeated Trump. Two years later, she left the Democratic Party to become an independent, criticizing her former colleagues as an “elitist cabal of warmongers” and extreme left ideologues.
She subsequently campaigned for several high-profile Republicans, became a contributor for Fox News, and started a podcast.
**Gabbard’s remarks on Russia have not gone unnoticed in Moscow, where state media have praised her and even joked about her being a Russian agent.**
An article published Friday in RIA Novosti, a major state-controlled news agency in Russia, referred to Gabbard as a “superwoman” and highlighted her past appearances on Russian television, claiming that Ukrainian intelligence considers her “probably an agent of Russian special services.”
**Gabbard’s stance on Russia and Syria is likely to emerge during her Senate confirmation process.**
Republican Senator John Cornyn stated that while he has questions about her comments and believes Gabbard should undergo the traditional background check during her confirmation process, he does not doubt her loyalties.
**“I certainly would want to ask her about that,”** Cornyn remarked regarding Gabbard’s comments on Russia. **“But I have no doubt that she is a patriot. I mean, she served in the U.S. military and was deployed for a significant amount of time.”**
**U.S. allies are closely monitoring the nomination process, concerned about how Trump’s incoming administration might affect cooperation and intelligence sharing.**
Trump’s election raises **“very difficult questions”** for close allies and members of the Five Eyes group, a coalition of intelligence-sharing nations including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, according to Thomas Juneau, a former strategic analyst for Canada’s National Defense Department.
**“Will the United States be more selective in what it shares in order to pressure allies? If so, this will create distrust between the U.S. and its closest partners,”** Juneau said. **“In the long term, this would negatively affect the Five Eyes, which is an extremely close partnership based on an extraordinarily high level of trust.”**
**Some officials from allied governments declined to comment on Gabbard and other Trump appointments.** Following the disappointing Biden debate that led to Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the Democratic nominee, several key European allies indicated they were already working on developing a security strategy less dependent on the United States.
**French President Emmanuel Macron and other European officials publicly emphasized this after the election in the United States.**
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Lederer reported from the United Nations. Lynn Berry and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.
This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative AI tool.
