‘Saudi Arabia’s Bitch’: Tulsi Gabbard Once Accused ‘Unfit’ Trump of ‘Pimping Out’ U.S. Troops to Foreign Leaders
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, had a long record of brutally condemning him during his first term in office.
Gabbard, who would lead the entire U.S. intelligence community if elected, accused Trump of being Saudi Arabia’s “bitch” in 2018 while running in the Democratic presidential primaries.
“Hey @realdonaldtrump: being Saudi Arabia’s bitch is not ‘America First,’” Gabbard posted on Twitter in November of that year. Gabbard, a former congresswoman from Hawaii, was reacting to Trump’s decision to continue to sell arms to Saudi Arabia in the wake of the brutal murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
The Associated Press reported at the time that Trump raised eyebrows not only for not condemning the Saudis for the murder but instead for thanking them for lowering oil prices. “Trump is thanking Saudi Arabia for plunging oil prices amid criticism over his decision not to further punish the kingdom for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” reported the AP, which also quoted his various tweets praising the Saudis.
In 2019, Gabbard took her criticism of Trump even further. “Look, Donald Trump is corrupt — he is unfit to serve our country as president,” she told The Hill in September of that year. “He is unqualified to serve our country as commander-in-chief, I’m running for president to defeat him.”
During a New Hampshire campaign event, Gabbard also accused Trump of “pimping” out U.S. troops after he claimed the Saudis paid over $1 billion for the U.S. to protect oil infrastructure in the country from Iranian attacks.
“He’s essentially pimping out our men and women in uniform to a foreign power who’s the highest bidder and saying very blatantly and directly, ‘Hey, they’re paying us for them. He is unfit to be our commander-in-chief,” Gabbard said.
She also posted to Facebook, writing, “Despicable. Trump’s offering to place our military assets under the command of a foreign country—Saudi Arabia—is a disgrace and betrayal of my patriotic brothers and sisters in uniform and to our Constitution. We are not your prostitutes. You are not our pimp.”
CNN would later report on Trump’s claim that the Saudis somehow paid for U.S. military support and noted that the Pentagon had no idea what he was talking about. “Saudi Arabia does not appear to have paid the $1 billion that President Donald Trump said it has paid to house a deployment of US troops to the kingdom, according to the Pentagon,” wrote CNN in January 2020, adding:
Trump had previously touted Saudi Arabia’s financial contribution, telling Fox News last week, “I said, listen, you’re a very rich country. You want more troops? I’m going to send them to you, but you’ve got to pay us. They’re paying us. They’ve already deposited $1 billion in the bank.”
But the Pentagon says discussions about how Saudi Arabia can help pay for the cost of the US military deployment there are ongoing.
Gabbard’s appointment to lead U.S. intelligence has raised concerns throughout the country’s national security apparatus, given her past stances on Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “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,” noted the AP this week.
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