Four months into her tenure, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was already struggling on multiple fronts when things went from bad to worse earlier this week.
As Donald Trump considered a possible military offensive against Iran, many were reminded of the fact that Gabbard, just a few months ago, told members of Congress — under oath, while reading from a prepared text that her office published online — that the U.S. intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme leader Khomeini has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.”
When reporters asked the president for his reaction to the assessment from his own handpicked director of national intelligence, he told reporters: “I don’t care what she said.”
Gabbard quickly went into damage-control mode, and during an appearance on CNN on Tuesday, she insisted that she and Trump are “on the same page.”
Three days later, there’s fresh reason to believe otherwise.
Donald Trump on Tulsi Gabbard: "She's wrong."
— The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) 2025-06-20T20:01:52.413Z
During a Friday afternoon Q&A with reporters, one member of the press corps reminded the president that his own country’s intelligence community has concluded that Iran is not yet building a nuclear weapon. “Well, then my intelligence community is wrong,” Trump replied. “Who in the intelligence community said that?”
When the same reporter answered, “Your director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard,” the president added: “She’s wrong.”
By all accounts, the evidence does not appear to be on his side. As NBC News reported this week, “The U.S. assessment of Iran’s nuclear program has not changed since March, when the director of national intelligence told lawmakers that Tehran has large amounts of enriched uranium but has not made a decision to rush toward building an atomic bomb, according to the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee and a source with knowledge of the matter.”
That might not be what the White House wants the public to hear, but it’s what U.S. intelligence agencies keep telling policymakers.
Trump has nevertheless decided it’s “wrong,” for reasons he has not explained or acknowledged. There’s no shortage of questions surrounding his latest exchange, including the inevitable concerns about whether Trump is disregarding U.S. intelligence and accepting information from other sources. I’m also reminded of what happened the last time the United States had a different Republican president who disregarded his own country’s intelligence and insisted that a Middle Eastern foe had weapons of mass destruction. What’s more, it’s hard not to wonder whether Gabbard will soon need to start updating her resume. NBC News also reported this week, “National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, an outspoken critic of past U.S. military interventions abroad, appears to have fallen out of favor with President Donald Trump as he weighs military action against Iran, according to multiple senior administration officials with knowledge of the matter.” The reporting, which dovetailed with related reporting from other major outlets about Gabbard being sidelined, came against a backdrop of related reports about the intelligence chief being left out of important meetings and the president having soured on the former congresswoman. So much for being “on the same page.”
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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