Nikki Haley is no fan of Tulsi Gabbard being President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. potentially leading the Department of Health and Human Services, she made clear on her podcast Wednesday.
Haley, a Trump endorsee who touted his policies over his personality, seems to have a problem with just that. The DNI role “is not a place for a Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer,” she began.
“[Gabbard] opposed ending the Iran nuclear deal. She opposed sanctions on Iran. She opposed designating the Iran military as terrorists who say ‘death to America’ every single day,” Trump’s former United Nations ambassador said on SiriusXM’s Nikki Haley Live.
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“She said that Donald Trump turned the U.S. into Saudi Arabia’s prostitute. This is going to be the future head of our national intelligence.”
Haley criticized Gabbard’s “disgusting” 2017 trip to Syria for a “photo op with Bashar al-Assad.” Gabbard has cast doubt on reports that the dictator attacked his own people with chemical gas.
Gabbard’s comments after Russia invaded Ukraine were concerning as well, Haley said.
“After Russia invaded Ukraine, Tulsi Gabbard literally blamed NATO, our Western alliance that’s responsible for countering Russia,” Haley said. “She blamed NATO for the attack on Ukraine, and the Russians and the Chinese echoed her talking points and her interviews on Russian and Chinese television.”
Haley then took issue with vaccine skeptic Kennedy being Trump’s pick to lead the nation’s heath department.
“He’s a liberal Democrat, environmental attorney trial lawyer who will now be overseeing 25 percent of our federal budget and has no background in health care,” Haley said.
“So some of you may think RFK is cool, some of you may like that he questions what’s in our food and what’s in our vaccines, but we don’t know when he is given reins to an agency what decisions he’s going to make behind the scenes.”
