Trump bommer grovt på flere av kandidatene til viktige verv - AP

 

 Gabbard’s sympathetic views toward Russia cause alarm as Trump’s pick to lead intelligence services

FILE - Former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard waves as she arrives to speak before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally at Thomas & Mack Center, Oct. 24, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

By  DAVID KLEPPER, ELLEN KNICKMEYER and EDITH M. LEDERER

Updated 4:03 PM CET, November 17, 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tulsi Gabbard, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the U.S. intelligence services, in 2022 endorsed one of Russia’s main justifications for invading Ukraine: the existence of dozens of U.S.-funded biolabs working on some of the world’s nastiest pathogens.

Moscow claimed Ukraine was using the labs to create deadly bioweapons similar to COVID-19 that could be used against Russia, and that Russian President Vladimir Putin had no choice but to invade neighboring Ukraine to protect his country.

In fact, the labs are public and part of an international effort to control outbreaks and stop bioweapons.

Gabbard, a military veteran and a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, later said she wasn’t accusing the United States or Ukraine of anything nefarious and was just voicing concerns about protecting the labs.

But to critics in the U.S., including lawmakers in both parties, the comments showed a disturbing willingness to parrot Russian propaganda — a tendency that has earned Gabbard praise on Russian state TV.

Gabbard’s past comments supportive of Russia — as well as secret meetings with Syria’s president, a close ally of Russia and Iran — are attracting fresh scrutiny from Democrats and national security analysts who fear that as Trump’s director of national intelligence she could give Russia a major win, undercut Ukraine, weaken U.S. national security and endanger intelligence ties with allies.