Dem
47
GOP
53
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was on a panel at the Aspen Security Forum last week. He said: "Tulsi Gabbard is not competent to be the director of national intelligence. I believe she is trying to politicize the workforce and work product, and that makes America less safe." He noted that allies are now scaling back intelligence they share with the U.S. He also said Gabbard should resign or be fired.
He went into some specifics, as well. She fired intelligence officials who refused to cook the books on an intelligence assessment tying the Venezuelan government to MS-13. He blamed her for Donald Trump unexpectedly firing two top NSA officials. He noted that she has been on Fox News constantly trashing her own workforce. He also brought up the Signal chats where confidential information was sent to people not authorized to receive it.
As if to prove that Warner was right, just after he spoke, Gabbard released a report claiming that Obama-era officials engaged in a "treasonous conspiracy" to alter intelligence concerning the 2016 election. She said: "Their goal was to subvert the will of the American people and enact what was essentially a years-long coup with the objective of trying to usurp the President from fulfilling the mandate bestowed upon him by the American people." (English translation: Intelligence officers had concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump.) Every single member of the Intelligence Committee supported that conclusion, incidentally.
Gabbard's Deputy Chief of Staff Alexa Henning wasn't happy with Warner. She called him a "loser" and tweeted: "Since he's dumb enough to fall for politicized intelligence like the debunked Russia Hoax, I think we're good not taking advice from him." (V)