U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines appeared politely dumbfounded by questions from Alabama freshman U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville, as he seemed to suggest the United States Intelligence Community should not be assisting Ukraine in Russia’s unprovoked and illegal war.
“Good morning, Director Haines,” Tuberville, a former college football coach began in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday. “In your best assessment does Russian intelligence closely monitor our Secretary of Defense?”
“Russian intelligence tries very closely to monitor all of our senior leaders,” Haines patiently replied.
“Thank you,” Tuberville continued. “So you believe that noted that when he or ah, when he or said that Russia weakened and that the U.S. will move heaven and earth to arm Ukraine, do you believe that’s right he should say that?”
“Yes, I think Secretary of Defense should say –” Haines responded before being cut off.
“Do you believe Russia blames the U.S. intelligence community for helping Ukraine shoot down a Russian plane carrying hundreds of people?” Tuberville asked.
“I’m sorry, sir. Can you repeat the question?” Haines, not understanding what Tuberville was talking about, requested.
“Do you believe Russia blames us, our intelligence agency, for Ukraine shooting down a plane with hundreds of troops on board? Do you think Russia blames us for that?” he asked.
“Which plane are you thinking of?” Haines inquired.
“There was a plane recently that was shot down, a Russian plane that had 100 troops. Do you believe that they blame our intelligence agency for that?”
“I don’t know sir.”
“Okay. Do you believe that Russia blames our U.S. intelligence for sinkin ah their flagship, Moskova? Do you think they blame us for that?”
“I don’t know sir. We haven’t seen any direct reports –”
“To what extent you access [sic] that Russia believes it is at war with the west and United States? Do you think that they believe they’re at war with us?”
“Russia has historically believed that they are in a conflict, in effect, with NATO and the United States on variety of issues including in cyber and so on.”
“So you believe that they’re fighting us? That they’re they’re fighting us as well as they’re fighting Ukraine? Correct?”
“In a sense, their perception. Yeah.”
“Because we’re arming them and we’re talking. Okay.”
Tuberville’s apparent defense of Russia, his apparent implication that the U.S. Intelligence Community should not be assisting Ukraine is not only ill-founded and wrong, it lies in his tragic misconception of what is actually happening.
“As the Alabama Republican sees it,” MSNBC reported in February about Tuberville, “Russia invaded Ukraine because it’s a ‘communist country’ in need of ‘farmland.’ That’s not even close to being true.”
In October, before Alabama voters chose Tuberville over incumbent Democratic Senator Doug Jones, “the Alabama Media Group’s Kyle Whitmire noted, ‘Tuberville is in hiding,'” that same MSNBC report stated. ” The columnist added, ‘[I]f a campaign won’t let its candidate speak openly because he can’t do so without saying dumb things that hurt his chances of winning the election, what the heck is going to happen when he’s in the United States Senate?'”
Now we know.
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