‘She Didn’t Tell Anybody’: Punchbowl Co-Founder Says Tulsi Gabbard’s Behavior Around Trip to Syria Could Sink DNI Nomination

Veteran Capitol Hill reporter and co-founder of Punchbowl News, John Bresnahan, joined CNN on Monday to discuss the nomination of former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) to be Trump’s director of national intelligence.

CNN anchor Manu Raju began the segment by noting Gabbard stirred controversy in the past by meeting with “Syrian leader Bashar Assad, the dictator, and said that he was not an enemy of the United States after she returned from that trip.”

“This is how the Republican senators, both from Oklahoma, talked about the Gabbard nomination just yesterday,” Raju added before playing clips of Republican Sens. James Lankford and Markwayne Mullin discussing Gabbard:

LANKFORD: Well, we’ll have lots of questions. She met with Bashar Assad will want to know what the purpose was and what the direction for that was as a member of Congress. We’ll want to get a chance to talk about past comments that she’s made and get them in the full context. So, sure, there’s there’s comments that are floating out there, but we want to be able to know the rest of the story.

…

MULLIN: What she did as a member of Congress was not out of line for her to do that. She’s went through classified briefings since then. So there’s no document, there’s no background there for her to see, for anyone to see. She is she is a true patriot of the United States.

“Different views from two Republican senators from the same delegation. Lankford, though, is on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which will take the first crack at reviewing her nomination. You’re talking to Republican senators all the time. How likely is it that she gets confirmed or is this one that could potentially go down?” Raju then asked his panel.

“I think this is a close call right now. So Tom Cotton will take over the Intelligence Committee and that’s a big deal. Tom Cotton is a very loyal Trump supporter. He was in line. They talked about him possibly for defense secretary,” replied Bresnahan.

“And his views are much different than Tulsi Gabbard,” Raju interjected.

“And he’s in Republican leadership, but he’s a hawk. There’s a couple of hawks there. Jim Risch, another one who’s on Intel, would not. He was asked over the weekend he was at a Halifax security conference. He would not endorse Gabbard. He would not endorse Pete Hegseth. So there are very serious questions about her. The Intelligence Committee process is a little different than other ones,” Bresnahan replied, adding:

It’s very rigorous. I mean, they will look at her. I do think this is difficult. I mean, I covered in 2017. You know, I was reporting on this when Gabbard went to Syria. She didn’t tell anybody. And she– I remember trying to interview her about what she did, who paid for it, why, why she went, how that came about. It was it was a how do you say it? I’m not gonna say, fishy, but it was questionable.

“And it was sponsored by an Ohio-based Arab-American economic group,” Raju added.

“Yeah, exactly. But at the time, she didn’t tell us that. And she and she would not answer questions and she wouldn’t answer questions about how she interacted with Assad. I do think there’s a lot of stuff there. I do think her and Hegseth are the ones I think that probably will be confirmed. But I do think Gabbard is the one that stands out right now. I think it’s going to be a tough time for that,” Bresnahan concluded.

Watch the clip above via CNN.