MSNBC’s Jen Psaki Torches Trump Pick Gabbard Over ‘Bombshell’ Report Witness Covered His Face For Fear She’d Out Him

MSNBC host and former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki torched Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, over a “bombshell report” about a congressional witness.

Gabbard has faced criticism from Democrats and others that she’s a Russia apologist at best and an “asset” at worst, and similarly for expressing sympathy for now-overthrown Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

On the latter front, NBC’s Dan De Luce reported that congressional staffers worried that Gabbard might leak the identity of a Syrian defector — and had him wear a mask in a closed-door session to give testimony.

On Monday’s edition of MSNBC’s Inside With Jen Psaki, Psaki placed Gabbard’s nomination in the fresh context of Assad’s departure, and the reporting on “Caesar,” the witness who disguised himself out of fear:

Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s longtime dictator, was forced to flee his own country over the weekend, ending a half-a-century of rule by his family.

Now, Assad’s regime was notorious for its brutality. Amnesty International condemned his immoral and cruel leadership by summing it up this way — quote — “Attacks with chemical weapons, barrel bombs and other war crimes, as well as murder, torture and forced disappearance, an extermination that amount to crimes against humanity.”

It’s unclear — and this is part of it — what comes next for the Syrian people. But, for the moment, many are understandably simply celebrating the fact that Assad is gone. Russia, along with Iran, have long supported Assad, backing him during his country’s lengthy and brutal civil war.

But Assad also had sympathizers here in the United States as well, including former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat turned Republican who is somehow Donald Trump’s choice to serve as director of national intelligence.

Now, back in 2017, Gabbard was widely criticized for traveling to Syria and meeting with Assad personally, and she was also criticized for what she did when she returned home. As NBC News reports, Gabbard has been accused of repeatedly echoing propaganda spread by Russia and the Assad regime, including questioning U.S. intelligence assessments that the Syrian government carried out multiple chemical weapons attacks on its own people.

That is part of a bombshell new report by my colleague Dan De Luce at NBC News, where he outlines exactly why so many foreign policy experts oppose putting Gabbard in charge of our nation’s secrets. De Luce highlights an anecdote from back in 2018, when a Syrian dissident going by the name of Caesar — and you may remember the Caesar photos — spoke with the House Foreign Affairs Committee behind closed doors.

Even though there were no cameras present, Caesar opted to cover his face during the meeting, at the urging of committee staff of both parties.

And thanks to this reporting, we now know why. As De Luce reveals — quote — “Congressional aides worried about one committee member, Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard. The aides were concerned Gabbard might leak information about the defector, who had hidden his identity out of fear of reprisals from the Assad regime.”

Some worried that she might even reveal his identity to someone associated with the Syrian government. So, both Democratic and Republican aides told the Syrians accompanying the defector to ensure that he covered his face before Gabbard entered the room, just in case.

In other words, they didn’t trust Gabbard, a Democratic member of the House at the time, to keep his identity secret.

Now, we should note a spokesperson for the Trump transition team calls that reporting — quote — “another smear by anonymous officials with no proof.” It wasn’t anonymous, though. That spokesperson also says Gabbard has an active top security clearance — top secret security clearance, and has never breached the confidentiality rules around classified information.

But all of it is a reminder of why so many national security experts in this country think Gabbard should not be trusted to safeguard our most sensitive secrets as director of national intelligence.

Watch above via MSNBC’s Inside With Jen Psaki.