Tag: tulsi gabbard

Gabbard reverses course on key intel-gathering tool as nomination teeters

Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii), President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, is changing her tune on a key intelligence-gathering authority she once sought to repeal as her Senate confirmation hangs in the balance.

Gabbard’s past criticisms of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act have emerged as a central issue in her confirmation process, leaving GOP senators — including some in leadership — increasingly skeptical about the former Democrat’s confirmation prospects.

In her first public comments since being nominated, Gabbard told us in an exclusive statement that she now supports Section 702, saying the program is “crucial” and “must be safeguarded to protect our nation while ensuring the civil liberties of Americans.”

“If confirmed as DNI, I will uphold Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights while maintaining vital national security tools like Section 702 to ensure the safety and freedom of the American people,” Gabbard said.

In private meetings, senators are questioning Gabbard about legislation she introduced in 2020 that would repeal Section 702.

However, Gabbard now appears to be walking that back, citing Fourth Amendment protections implemented since then to prevent the incidental collection of Americans’ data:

“My prior concerns about FISA were based on insufficient protections for civil liberties, particularly regarding the FBI’s misuse of warrantless search powers on American citizens. Significant FISA reforms have been enacted since my time in Congress to address these issues.”

Inside Gabbard’s Senate meetings: Multiple senators from both parties who met with the former Hawaii lawmaker in recent days told us they emerged from those sessions unsure about Gabbard’s position on the 702 program. During these meetings, senators have pressed Gabbard on her previous public statements on the issue, as well as her votes against 702 reauthorization throughout her eight years in Congress.

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Deep State Creep John Brennan Has the Nerve to Question Tulsi Gabbard’s Fitness for National Security Role

Former CIA director John Brennan recently appeared on MSNBC and had the audacity to question Tulsi Gabbard’s fitness for a national security role not that Trump has tapped her for DNI.

Brennan pushed conspiracy theories about Gabbard being in league with Russia and Putin, same old playbook from four years ago. John Bolton is pushing the same lies.

These people have no shame and will say anything to smear anyone connected to Trump.

Transcript via Real Clear Politics:

JOHN BRENNAN: Clearly, Tulsi Gabbard has taken actions and made statements over the past several years that raise serious questions about her common sense, judgment, and political sympathies. Cozying up to Putin as well as to Bashar al-Assad shows she doesn’t have the type of perspective needed for someone who is going to head up these 18 intelligence agencies.

As Tom Nichols said, she doesn’t have any qualifications. The Director of National Intelligence is a serious and complex position that requires someone who actually understands the intelligence community. It’s like an orchestra conductor for all the different agencies and departments involved in the intelligence process. I don’t think she understands the instruments involved in this orchestra, nor has she had any experience at the strategic level of running and leading a large, complex organization.

The Director of National Intelligence is, according to legislation, the President’s principal intelligence adviser, responsible for ensuring the President’s daily brief is put together in a sound and forthright manner.

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Rand Paul Asks Why TSA Is Using Terror Watch List To Spy On Americans “Based On Their Political Views”

GOP Senator Rand Paul has written to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) asking for answers as to why the agency appears to be using terrorist watch lists as a way of surveilling Americans according to their political opinions.

Paul addressed the letter to TSA Administrator David Pekoske, and cited recent revelations that former Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard as well as a woman married to a federal air marshal whistleblower have both been placed on the ‘Quiet Skies’ program watch list and subjected to enhanced surveillance.

Gabbard was seemingly added to the watch list after a Fox News interview during which she criticised the ‘deep state’, while the air marshal’s wife was added after attending Donald Trump’s speech on January 6th, despite not moving to the Capitol building after it.

“Taken together, these incidents seem to be part of a broader pattern in which TSA has repurposed Quiet Skies to surveil individuals based on their political activities, even when there is no evidence of wrongdoing,” Paul wrote.

The Senator further noted that the incidents “echo concerns highlighted in a previous report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), which identified critical deficiencies in TSA’s management of the Quiet Skies program.” 

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Gabbard Episode Shows the Surveillance State Strong and Stupid as Ever

The former Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) is apparently the latest Biden critic to be targeted for federal surveillance and harassment. Gabbard, an outspoken opponent of America’s forever wars, is reportedly being stalked by Transportation Security Administration’s air marshals, part of the agency’s Quiet Skies covert operation targeting suspected threats to aviation.

After TSA whistleblowers were quoted confirming the surveillance, Gabbard declared that placing her on the TSA Quiet Skies target list was “clearly an act of political retaliation. It’s no accident that I was placed on the Quiet Skies list the day after I did a prime-time interview warning the American people about… why Kamala Harris would be bad for our country if elected as President.” Gabbard lamented that, despite serving in the U.S. Army for 21 years, “now my government is surveilling me as a potential domestic terrorist.” She groused about “the stress of forever looking over my shoulder, wondering if and how I am being watched, what secret terror watch list I’m on, and having no transparency or due process.” As one Twitter wag quipped, “The only thing Tulsi Gabbard blew up was Kamala’s earlier presidential run. That’s why she’s on a list.” 

On Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) sent a letter to TSA chief David Pekoske complaining that the Gabbard surveillance appeared to be “part of a broader pattern in which TSA has repurposed Quiet Skies to surveil individuals based on their political activities, even when there is no evidence of wrongdoing.” Paul requested that TSA speedily turn over “unredacted copies of all current guidelines, criteria, standard operating procedures, and related documents governing the selection of individuals for TSA-managed lists and programs, including the Quiet Skies program.” Paul himself had epic airport clashes with TSA officials in 2012, and the agency has been paying the price ever since. 

In response to an inquiry by journalist Matt Taibbi on the Gabbard controversy, TSA issued a formal statement refusing to confirm or deny the targeting of Gabbard: “TSA’s Quiet Skies program uses a risk-based approach to identify passengers and apply enhanced security measures on some domestic and outbound international flights. To safeguard sensitive national security measures, TSA does not confirm or deny whether any individual has matched to a risk-based rule… Simply matching to a risk-based rule does not constitute derogatory information about an individual.”

In fact, a primary purpose of Quiet Skies is to entitle federal agents to stockpile derogatory information on their targets. 

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Tulsi Gabbard Suing Biden/Harris Admin For Placing Her On Terrorist Watch List

Former Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard is taking legal action against the Biden/Harris Administration after she discovered that she has essentially been placed on a terrorist watch list.

Gabbard, a military veteran, had it brought to her attention by Federal Air Marshal whistleblowers that she has been marked under the Quiet Skies program, a TSA scheme that seeks to identify travellers who may pose a risk to aviation security.

Those on this watchlist are not banned from flying, but are subject to enhanced searches and surveillance at airports, including having armed Air Marshals accompanying them on flights.

The whistleblowers have informed Gabbard that she is being monitored by two Explosive Detection Canine Teams, one Transportation Security Specialist specializing in explosives, one plainclothes TSA Supervisor, and three Federal Air Marshals every time she flies.

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Former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard Claims US Government is Being Run by Powerful, Unelected Cabal: Democrat Elite and Military-Industrial Complex — The Real Puppet Masters Behind Biden and Harris

In a recent episode of the “Modern Wisdom” podcast hosted by Chris Williamson, former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard shed light on a chilling reality: the U.S. government is being controlled by an unelected, powerful cabal.

During her conversation with Williamson, Gabbard laid out a detailed narrative about the hidden power structures she believes are pulling the strings in Washington.

According to her, the real decision-makers are not President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris but rather a shadowy group of Democrat elites, military-industrial complex beneficiaries, and national security state officials.

Gabbard identified prominent figures such as Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Tony Blinken, and Jake Sullivan as part of this elite group. She argued that these individuals, along with their allies in the military-industrial complex, profit from maintaining a constant state of war. This, in turn, allows them to expand their authority and strip away the liberties of ordinary Americans.

One of Gabbard’s most troubling points was her assertion that the United States, often touted as the world’s oldest democracy, is not functioning as a true democracy should.

She emphasized that the principle of a government “of the people, by the people, for the people” has been undermined by this unelected bureaucracy. This makes it increasingly difficult for voters to hold those in power accountable, as the real decision-makers are not those who have been elected.

Gabbard stressed the importance of the upcoming election as a chance for Americans to reclaim their government. She warned against being distracted by the media’s focus on who will run for Democrat.

According to Gabbard, it doesn’t matter if it’s Biden, Harris, or another Democrat figurehead; the same cabal will continue to wield power unless voters make a decisive change.

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Gabbard Lights Up Harris for ‘Hypocrisy’ of Defending Brittney Griner and Not Americans Locked Up at Home for Marijuana Violations

Former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard blasted Vice President Kamala Harris regarding her “hypocrisy” of vehemently defending Brittney Griner but not standing up for Americans locked up at home for marijuana violations – including those who were prosecuted by the former California attorney general.

On Thursday, Vice President Harris condemned Russia for sentencing Griner to nine years in prison for possessing a cannabis vape pen at an airport near Moscow earlier this year.

“With today’s sentencing, Russia continues its wrongful detention of Brittney Griner. She should be released immediately,” Harris wrote on Twitter. “@POTUS and I, and our entire Administration, are working every day to reunite Brittney, as well as Paul Whelan, with loved ones who miss each of them dearly.”

Gabbard told Fox News host Will Cain, “Another note of hypocrisy coming from Kamala Harris and this administration, as you mentioned during her illustrious record as attorney general in California…she kept prisoners in prison longer than their sentences to use them as free slave labor yet at the same time these very same people are condemning other countries for doing the exact same thing. It doesn’t make any sense.”

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Ukrainian Government Publishes List of American Individuals Who are Allegedly “Russian Propagandists” 

The government of Ukraine recently published a list of individuals who it believes are “promoting Russian propaganda.” As Finn McRedmond of UnHerd noted, this list includes “a number of prominent Western intellectuals.” 

On July 14, 2022, the “Center for Countering Disinformation”, published a list on its website of academics, activists, and politicians who are “promoting Russian propaganda.” These included notable intellectuals and politicians such as Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, geopolitical analyst Edward Luttwak, international relations scholar John Mearsheimer, and independent leftist journalist Glenn Greenwald. 

The list does not provide any specific consequences for the people who are mentioned on it.

This institution was set up in 2021 under the watch of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and was headed by former lawyer Polina Lysenko. The CCD is under the purview of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine.

The CCD’s goal is to find and combat “propaganda” and “destructive disinformation” and to stop the “manipulation of public opinion.”

McRedmond observed that the “exact criteria for inclusion are also unclear, although next to each name the report lists the ‘pro Russian’ opinions the individual promotes.” In the case of Edward Luttwak, he earned the Ukrainian state’s ire by suggesting that “referendums should be held in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions”, referring to the breakaway republics that declared their independence following the Maidan Revolution of 2014.  Mearsheimer is an outspoken critic of American involvement in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. His remarks that “NATO has been in Ukraine since 2014” and that “NATO provoked Putin” were what prompted the Ukrainian government to label him as a “pro-Russian propagandist.” 

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Tulsi Gabbard slams Biden admin for hypocrisy of Bannon conviction, while Clapper, Brennan weren’t charged

Former Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D) posted a fiery statement to Twitter Saturday morning, showing her contempt for the Biden administration and the “elite” for “shamelessly weaponizing law enforcement into a political hit squad” following the conviction of Trump-ally Steve Bannon for contempt of Congress.

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Brennan allegedly lied to Congress and were never charged, Gabbard wrote.

Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist under the Trump administration, was convicted on two charges of contempt of Congress after a federal jury found him guilty for ignoring a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 Committee on Friday. The two misdemeanour counts each carry a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of one year in jail, in addition to a fine of $100 to $100,000, reported Axios.

Bannon is the first close Trump adviser to be convicted resulting from the House committee’s probe into the affront on the U.S. Capitol last January following Trump’s election loss.

Clapper has allegedly lied to Congress on multiple occasions, the most notable of which occurred right before National Security Agency (NSA) employee Edward Snowden infamously leaked classified documents.

In March 2013, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) asked Clapper under oath if the federal government was collecting “any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans.” Clapper replied, “No, sir. … Not wittingly.”

Three months later, Snowden released documents revealing the NSA was collecting communications records on millions of Americans.

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Tulsi Gabbard Points Out What the US Now Has in Common with Dictatorships

Those on the right aren’t the only ones criticizing the Biden administration’s new Disinformation Governance Board. Former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard pointed out on Fox News’s “Hannity” that such an apparatus is a hallmark of dictatorships around the world.  

“This is the kind of thing that you see in dictatorships, this ministry of truth, this department of propaganda that the Biden administration has just stood up. And the reason why you see this in dictatorships is because they are afraid of us—they are afraid of the people,” she explained. “They are afraid that we might actually think for ourselves.”

The Hawaii Democrat said the DGB will carry out two functions. 

“No. 1, they will use taxpayer dollars to work through the mainstream media and flood the airwaves with whatever their propaganda narrative is that they are pushing at any given time and try to drown out anyone with alternate views,” she said. “And No. 2, they will silence dissenting voices through intimidation.”

The tactics are not new, Gabbard explained. 

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