Tulsi Gabbard Won’t Say If Iran Posed Imminent Threat To U.S. | EUROtoday

WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump’s director of nationwide intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, repeatedly dodged questions on Wednesday about whether or not Iran posed an “imminent” risk to the United States earlier than the U.S. launched missile strikes towards Tehran final month.

“The only person who can determine what is and is not an imminent threat is the president,” Gabbard instructed lawmakers at a Senate Intelligence Committee listening to on worldwide threats.

“It is not the intelligence community’s responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat,” she added.

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) pushed again on Gabbard’s assertion, calling it “false.”

“It is precisely your responsibility to say what constitutes a threat to the United States. This is the worldwide threats hearing, where you present to Congress national intelligence — timely, objective and independent of political considerations,” he fired again.

“You’re evading a question because to provide a candid response to the committee would contradict a statement from the White House,” he added.

Gabbard, who in 2020 was promoting “No War With Iran” T-shirts and who, as a member of Congress, was very important of international entanglements overseas, has been very cautious to ascribe the choice to go to struggle towards Iran to Trump alone.

“After carefully reviewing all the information before him, President Trump concluded that the terrorist Islamist regime in Iran posed an imminent threat and he took action based on that conclusion,” she mentioned in a social media submit on Tuesday.

Gabbard was pushing again towards claims from one among her high aides, National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent, who resigned this week over the U.S. struggle in Iran. Kent mentioned Iran posed no imminent risk to the United States, contradicting the Trump administration.

“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” Kent mentioned in his resignation letter to Trump.