According to the Persian edition of ISNA, Gabbard’s exclusion comes shortly after President Donald Trump openly stated that her March testimony, in which she declared that Iran was not building nuclear weapons, was “wrong.” This also coincides with a shocking intelligence leak that questions the White House’s claims about the effectiveness of Trump’s strike on Iran.
Trump remarked, “I don’t care what [Gabbard] said. I think they were very close to having such a thing.”
It is highly unusual for a cabinet-level intelligence official to be sidelined from a briefing with lawmakers on national security and military action in the Middle East. The Washington Post first reported her absence, and the White House confirmed to The Daily Beast that Gabbard, a 44-year-old former Democrat who once sold “No War with Iran” T-shirts, would not attend the session. A senior White House official downplayed her exclusion, telling The Daily Beast, “Ratcliffe, the CIA Director, will represent the intelligence community tomorrow, while Tulsi Gabbard continues her critical work. The media is making this into something it’s not.”
Michael Wolff, Trump’s biographer, told The Daily Beast podcast on Wednesday that Gabbard had fallen out of favor with the administration after a leak regarding the effectiveness of the strike on an Iranian nuclear site embarrassed the government. Those present at Thursday’s briefing included Ratcliffe, Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, and Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense.
The Associated Press reported that Gabbard was initially scheduled to attend a briefing with senators on Tuesday. However, that session was postponed to Thursday for unspecified reasons, and Gabbard opted not to participate. The postponement came as a CNN report revealed that a leaked assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies suggested the attack on Iran may have been a $2 billion failure.
It remains unclear whether Gabbard will attend a briefing with members of the House of Representatives scheduled for Friday.
Many lawmakers are furious with the Trump administration for bombing Iran without congressional approval. The Senate is expected to vote in the coming days on a resolution that would require Trump to seek congressional authorization before any future attacks on Iran.
