Some Democratic lawmakers blasted former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard after President-elect Donald Trump tapped her to serve as director of National Intelligence, a cabinet-level post.
Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., declared in a post on X that she was “appalled” by the selection of Gabbard for the role.
“Not only is she ill-prepared and unqualified, but she traffics in conspiracy theories and cozies up to dictators like Bashar-al Assad and Vladimir Putin,” Spanberger claimed in a post on X.
TRUMP APPOINTS TULSI GABBARD AS DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: ‘FEARLESS SPIRIT’
Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump dances as he leaves the stage after speaking alongside former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard during a town hall meeting in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on Aug. 29, 2024. (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., called the choice of Gabbard as DNI “incredibly reckless,” declaring in a tweet, “Putting someone with known sympathies for foreign adversaries is not putting America’s interests first – it’s putting our security at risk.”
Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., seemed to suggest that having Gabbard serve as DNI would place national secrets at risk.
“Tulsi Gabbard’s deep ties to some of our nation’s most dangerous adversaries, including Bashar al-Assad of Syria and Vladimir Putin of Russia, make her an untrustworthy guardian of our nation’s most closely held secrets,” Magaziner said in the statement.
“As the highest-ranking intelligence official in the federal government, she would have access to information spanning everything from our nation’s nuclear weapons program to the location and activities of our military service members, and we cannot risk this information falling into the hands of our adversaries,” he asserted.
Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard speaks during a Trump campaign rally at the Greensboro Coliseum on Oct. 22, 2024, in Greensboro, N.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Gabbard served in the U.S. House of Representatives from early 2013 through early 2021 as a Democrat. She mounted a presidential bid in 2019 but ultimately dropped out in 2020 and backed Joe Biden.
The former lawmaker supported Trump during the 2024 election and announced that she was joining the Republican Party.
“I’ve been a soldier for over 21 years, and currently serve as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve,” she noted in a post on Veterans Day this week.
TULSI GABBARD SAYS TRUMP ‘LISTENS’ AND ‘RECOGNIZES’ CHALLENGES AMERICANS FACE
Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard during a Trump campaign event at Fly Advanced in Lititz, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“The best way for us to honor our veterans, not just on #VeteransDay, but every day, is to make sure that our men and women in uniform are only sent into harms’ way as a last resort when all diplomatic measures have been exhausted, and actually take care of them and their families, if and when they return home,” she noted.
Fox News Digital attempted to reach out to Gabbard for comment on Thursday.
Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.
