Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s pick to oversee the entire U.S. Intelligence Community, was reportedly influenced by the Kremlin-funded media outlet RT, according to an ABC News report citing her former aides. The sentiment may be mutual, as Russia’s propaganda networks have shown a affinity for Gabbard, the ex-Democratic Congresswoman who has recently become a MAGA Republican and vocal supporter of the President-elect.

“Three former aides said Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party in 2022, regularly read and shared articles from the Russian news site RT … which the U.S. intelligence community characterized in 2017 as ‘the Kremlin’s principal international propaganda outlet.'”

Gabbard continued these practices “long after” she was advised RT was not a credible source, according to one aide.

ABC News, noting some on the left have suggested Gabbard might be “compromised,” describes her “posture” on Russia as “rosy.”

The Daily Beast reports that “Rep. Jason Crow said there are ‘deep questions about where her loyalties lie,’ and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, without offering evidence, claimed Gabbard is ‘likely a Russian asset.’ Gabbard has repeatedly denied such claims.”

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Gabbard’s aides, according to ABC, say she regularly read and shared articles from RT, formerly called Russia Today. The media outlet has been banned in parts of the world, including by the European Union.

In September, the U.S. State Department alleged RT had been engaging in “covert influence activities,” and had “engaged in information operations, covert influence, and military procurement.”

ABC News added that the U.S. Department of Justice had “also indicted two RT employees in September for their alleged role in what the DOJ called a scheme to pay right-wing social media influencers nearly $10 million to ‘disseminate content deemed favorable to the Russian government.'”

At least one expert says Gabbard’s alleged decision to continue to rely on RT is problematic.

“That Gabbard’s views mirror Russia’s narrative and disinformation themes can but suggest naïveté, collusion, or politically opportunistic sycophancy to echo whatever she believes Trump wants to hear,” Doug London, a retired 34-year veteran intelligence officer told ABC News. He added, “none of which bodes well for the president’s principal intelligence adviser responsible for enabling the [U.S. intelligence community] to inform decision-making by telling it like it is.”

But for years some have suggested Gabbard has an apparent affinity for Russian propaganda and for the Russian propaganda outlet—and that it was not just a one-way street.

The New York Times last month described Gabbard as “a favorite source of anti-American content on Russia’s state television networks” and “a darling of the Kremlin’s vast state media apparatus — and, more recently, of President-elect Donald J. Trump, who last week picked her to oversee the nation’s 18 intelligence agencies and departments.”

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Vladimir Solovyov, a popular [Russian] talk show host, called her ‘our girlfriend’ in a segment in 2022. The program included an interview Ms. Gabbard did with Tucker Carlson in which she claimed that Mr. Biden’s goal was to end Mr. Putin’s control of the Russian government, according to Julia Davis, the creator of the Russian Media Monitor, which tracks Kremlin propaganda.”

“Trump’s pick for top intel job has been accused of ‘traitorous’ parroting of Russian propaganda,” NBC News reported last month. “Tulsi Gabbard, who has never worked in the intelligence world, has denied accusations that she promoted Kremlin disinformation.”

CNN’s Marshall Cohen, who covers “major legal cases and Congressional investigations, often with a focus on democracy, elections and disinformation,” made several observations on February 21, 2020 in this social media thread (which includes links to RT that NCRM is not republishing):

“It is staggering how Trump’s tweets mirror the propaganda coming from Russia, as presented on RT, which I’ve monitored for years. (1) attacks corporate ties of US media, (2) defends Gabbard and Stein, (3) denies Russian meddling in US politics, (4) says US elections are ‘rigged.'”

“There is so much on Tulsi Gabbard that she has her own page on the RT website. Dozens of friendly stories, focusing intently on her lawsuit against Clinton, highlighting stories about her supporters getting harassed, etc.”

“…there are tons of examples of RT denying Russian meddling in 2016. RT is controlled by the Russian government, after all. It’s the party line.”

And he offered “an example of RT stoking fears and amplifying content about how US elections are potentially rigged,” pointing to an article that “was posted a few weeks before the 2016 election.”

Dr. Caroline Orr Bueno is a “postdoctoral research associate, writer, and internationally recognized expert in the study of cognitive security, disinformation, weaponized influence, extremism, and social media manipulation,” according to her bio.

In 2019 she wrote, “Russian propaganda outlet RT has published at least 6 articles about Tulsi Gabbard in the past two days. Ironically, several of them are mocking the idea that she’s a Russian asset.”

Russian propaganda outlet RT has published at least 6 articles about Tulsi Gabbard in the past two days. Ironically, several of them are mocking the idea that she’s a Russian asset. pic.twitter.com/XIe5zliVzk

— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@RVAwonk) October 20, 2019

And just last month, Juan Forero, the Wall Street Journal’s Bureau Chief for South America, wrote: “Tulsi Gabbard, who could direct national intelligence, has been perfect RT talking head. When she visited Syrian strongman Bashar Al-Assad, her real value was not what she said about him, but the fabrications she told the world about the Syrian conflict.”

READ MORE: Pete Hegseth’s Mom Urges ‘Female Senators’ to Ignore Media Reports, Confirm Him as SecDef

Image via Reuters

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley appeared to muddy the waters for Donald Trump’s embattled Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth, telling reporters that the Fox News co-host facing numerous allegations including possible sexual misconduct and alcohol abuse, has canceled his scheduled interview with the Missouri GOP lawmaker. Senator Hawley also repeatedly suggested he isn’t sure at this point what the President-elect’s intentions with Hegseth are anymore.

Speaking about Hegseth, Hawley told reporters Wednesday, “I don’t know where things stand at the moment,” “I was supposed to sit down with him tomorrow, but they canceled that meeting,” “it’s not 100% clear who [Trump] really wants as Secretary of Defense right now,” and, “I don’t know what the case is at this point.”

Hegseth spent the day on Capitol Hill while his mother sat down with Fox News to defend her son, and disavow the 2018 letter she wrote to him, saying: “On behalf of all the women (and I know it’s many) you have abused in some way, I say … get some help and take an honest look at yourself.”

READ MORE: Hegseth: Trump Told Me ‘I’m Behind You All the Way’ But Reports Suggest Otherwise

Hawley began by telling reporters, “I’ve been saying since he’s been nominated, let’s give him a shot. But listen, I don’t, I don’t know. I was supposed to sit down with him tomorrow, but they canceled that meeting,” Hawley told reporters Wednesday afternoon. “So I don’t, I don’t know where things stand at the moment.”

Asked if he thinks Hegseth will withdraw, Hawley continued to obfuscate.

“I don’t know. I — but listen, I just, the president, I give the president a lot of deference here. I’ve said I’ll support — folks, my presumption is, I’ll support whoever he wants, and thinks whoever is gonna be great for his cabinet.”

“I’m not, it’s not 100% clear who he really wants as Secretary of Defense right now.”

Asked if Hegseth’s nomination has become too much of a distraction, Hawley again did not rush to support the embattled nominee.

“Well, that’s for the president to decide,” Hawley continued, appearing to try to defer to Trump. “I’ve been saying this for days. I mean, I’m a broken record on this. My view is that if the president wants him to be secretary of defense, then people ought to give him a shot. And my presumption is that I would support him at the very least, let him have his confirmation hearing, let him take the oath, let him answer all of these questions.”

READ MORE: Pete Hegseth’s Mom Urges ‘Female Senators’ to Ignore Media Reports, Confirm Him as SecDef

“I’m sure there’ll be more. He’ll answer all and many, many more under oath, if he wants to, and if the president wants to, wants him to. But I don’t, I don’t know what the case is at this point, so.”

PBS NewsHour’s Lisa Desjardins also reported on a cryptic conversation Wednesday afternoon.

Referring to Hegseth’s meeting with Hawley being canceled, she wrote:

“A transition-related source told me Hegseth has to ‘be somewhere else’ now, a schedule change.

Florida?,I asked.

The source only said that the schedule change ‘came from a higher power’.”

Watch the video below or at this link. (Video starts at the 2:22 mark.)

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As justices on the U.S. Supreme Court were hearing arguments in the Biden administration’s challenge to a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming treatment for transgender minors, far-right influencer, anti-LGBTQ commentator and activist, and Daily Wire podcaster Matt Walsh was outside the Court attacking what he calls “trans ideology” — and calling for it to be “entirely erased from the earth.”

Walsh did not explain what he meant by “trans ideology,” but the LGBTQ organization GLAAD has an explainer on so-called “gender ideology.”

“Employed by prominent anti-LGBTQ accounts and similar to the trope ‘transgenderism,’ ‘gender ideology’ is a malicious rhetorical construct that falsely asserts that LGBTQ — notably trans — people are an ideological movement rather than an intrinsic identity,” GLAAD writes.

On Wednesday, Walsh declared, “Children have a right to be protected from all of those people over there who want to harm them and damage them and destroy them, and they will be.”

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He appeared to be referring to the transgender allies and activists outside the Supreme Court.

“They are gonna lose,” he proclaimed. “They are losing right now. We are not going to let them harm our children. This case is just the beginning of the fight. It is not the end. We are not gonna rest until every child is protected, until trans ideology is entirely erased from the earth. That’s what we’re fighting for, and we will not stop until we achieve it. So to the trans activists over there who are claiming, this is all about the rights of children, I say again: yes, you’re right, it is. They have a right to be protected, from you.”

Walsh also said outside the Court, “There’s no such thing as a ‘trans kid.’ That doesn’t exist. Those kids are not trans. They are confused, and their confusion has been exploited by quacks and abusers. They are abuse victims. They are not trans kids.”

Walsh has called for parents who are supportive of their transgender children to be “thrown in prison.”

Citing the ADL, GLAAD also notes, “’proponents of the phrase often use it to oppose school curricula that feature and/or celebrate LGBTQ+ history or experiences, falsely claiming that such materials promote the sexualization of minors and/or coerce children into identifying as members of the LGBTQ+ community.’ The Southern Poverty Law Center adds: ‘Anti-LGBTQ+ groups often employ the term to claim any kind of positive affirmation of trans young people is a nefarious method of creating or recruiting new trans kids.’ On Twitter/X, for example, far-right outlet The Daily Wire widely promoted a speech by anti-trans commentator Matt Walsh, who said in April 2023, ‘I truly see the fight against gender ideology as the last stand for Western civilization.’ Other extremist accounts have used the phrase as a dog whistle to spread animus against trans people. That same month, Gays Against Groomers posted across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter/X: ‘Gender ideology must be completely abolished and destroyed.'”

READ MORE: How Democrats and Republicans Look at Hunter Biden’s Pardon and One for J6ers

Meanwhile, inside the Supreme Court, CNN reports the conservative majority justices appeared ready to let the state of Tennessee do whatever it wants on the issue.

“It seems to me that it’s something where we are extraordinary [sic] bereft of expertise,” Chief Justice John Roberts said, CNN reported.

“Why isn’t it best to leave it to the democratic process?” Justice Brett Kavanaugh asked.

But liberal Justice Elena Kagan disagreed.

“It’s a dodge to say that this is not based on sex,” Kagan said. “The medical purpose is utterly and entirely about sex.”

The Associated Press also reported the Supreme Court “seemed likely to uphold Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

Matt Walsh outside the Supreme Court: “This case is just the beginning of the fight. It is not the end. We are not gonna rest … until trans ideology is entirely erased from the earth. That’s what we’re fighting for, and we will not stop until we achieve it.” pic.twitter.com/HGUIKNs2D0

— Ari Drennen (@AriDrennen) December 4, 2024

READ MORE: Hegseth: Trump Told Me ‘I’m Behind You All the Way’ But Reports Suggest Otherwise

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license