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‘Perfect RT Talking Head’: Kremlin Propaganda Outlet Influenced Gabbard’s Views, Ex-Aides Say

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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 an 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.”

READ MORE: Hawley Throws Hegseth Under the Bus: ‘Not 100% Clear Who Trump Really Wants Right Now’

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.”

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

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.”

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

 

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News

DOJ Blasted for Taking Epstein Investigation Orders From Trump

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November 14, 2025

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Attorney General Pam Bondi quickly — and publicly — agreed to fulfill President Donald Trump’s request that she use the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate Democrats and corporations that may have had ties to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump on Friday declared that Epstein is the “Democrat’s problem” and not Republicans’, then called for the DOJ, FBI, and Bondi “to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him.”

The New York Times reported that the “inquiry appeared to be retribution for the renewed focus on his own ties to Mr. Epstein.”

Just hours later, Bondi agreed.

READ MORE: Trump Stumbles Over ‘God Bless America’ Lyrics at Veterans Day Ceremony

“Thank you, Mr. President. SDNY U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton is one of the most capable and trusted prosecutors in the country, and I’ve asked him to take the lead. As with all matters, the Department will pursue this with urgency and integrity to deliver answers to the American people,” she wrote.

The New York Times called Bondi’s acquiescence “a stark demonstration of her willingness to surrender the traditional independence of the Justice Department to serve Trump’s personal political agenda.”

The Times also reported that Bondi assigning the investigation to the Southern District of New York “could create significant conflict within an office known for its investigative might and independence.”

NBC News senior White House correspondent Garrett Haake reported that “In July, the FBI and DOJ wrote in their memo that they were not releasing the Epstein files in part because ‘We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.’ – and now, after a push from the President, here we are.”

Legal experts and other critics denounced the moves.

READ MORE: Democrat Warns How Trump Could Engineer a Path to Stay in Power After 2028

“Count the ways they’re corrupting DOJ,” wrote former longtime U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, now an MSNBC legal analyst and professor of law. “Presidents don’t direct AG’s to open criminal cases, especially ones designating only Dems for investigation when POTUS himself is involved. DOJ doesn’t publicize criminal investigations & the AG definitely doesn’t assign them on Twitter.”

MSNBC executive producer Kyle Griffin asked, “If this investigation was legitimate, why wasn’t this investigation opened months ago? If this investigation was legitimate, why isn’t everyone mentioned in Epstein’s emails being investigated?”

Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon added, “When the president gives orders to Pam Bondi and our law enforcement arms of the federal government, it undercuts the credibility of our law enforcement.”

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for him to do it. I would ask him not to do that, because all it does is taint our legal system,” Bacon concluded.

Responding to Bondi’s remarks, civil liberties and national security journalist Marcy Wheeler wrote: “Unabashed corruption.”

“This has absolutely nothing to do with crime,” she stated. “Pam Bondi is just debasing her entire department for her liege so that she can stave off Congress from releasing whatever damning information she has on Trump. It’s a cover-up pure and simple and merely an indication of Trump’s desperation.”

READ MORE: ‘Mask Comes Off’: Trump Branded an ‘Elitist’ as Base Scrutinizes ‘America First’ Focus

 

Image via Reuters

 

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Democrat Warns How Trump Could Engineer a Path to Stay in Power After 2028

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November 14, 2025

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One of Capitol Hill’s most prominent — and most vocal — Democrats is warning about what he says are the ways President Donald Trump could try to remain in power beyond his current term.

President Trump has long hinted that he is interested in a third term, and even has had red “Trump 2028” caps as part of his merchandise offering. And while he recently appeared to put to rest questions about a third term — prohibited under a plain reading of the U.S. Constitution — by saying he has been told he cannot run, doubts among some still linger.

U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) on Friday shared what he suggested were possible ways Trump could try to stay in power past 2028 — and warned he thinks it’s possible that he will.

“I think he is right now trying to scheme a way to be able to stay,” Senator Murphy told The Bulwark’s Sam Stein at the 2025 Texas Tribune Festival.

READ MORE: ‘Retribution’: Trump Calls for Epstein Inquiry Into Democrats

“I think you have a potential, two potential Supreme Court vacancies coming up,” Murphy noted, “and it may be very important for him to install folks on the Supreme Court who may be willing to entertain radical ideas about the restrictions on the Constitution, about a third term.”

Murphy continued with an alternative theory, suggesting the President Trump “may just be interested in installing Donald Trump Jr. or another family member in the White House.”

But then the Connecticut Democrat served up a warning.

“Whatever he’s planning on doing, he can’t get away with it unless he destroys the ability of the people to speak their mind in elections because he and his party are going to lose in 2026 and 2028 unless he’s successful in rigging the election,” Murphy declared.

He vowed, “we’re going to do everything in our power, and we need to order all of our advocacy in the United States Senate and the House to stop him from doing it.”

READ MORE: ‘Mask Comes Off’: Trump Branded an ‘Elitist’ as Base Scrutinizes ‘America First’ Focus

Murphy continued with his warnings.

“I don’t think anybody with ambition right now should be planning on running for president in 2028 because we may not have a free and fair election in 2028,” Murphy declared. “We all have to be in the business of saving our democracy right now.”

“I do think we have to, all of us,” he added, “be traveling the entire country, whether it be an early primary state or not, to build this political resistance movement.”

READ MORE: Trump Stumbles Over ‘God Bless America’ Lyrics at Veterans Day Ceremony

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‘Retribution’: Trump Calls for Epstein Inquiry Into Democrats

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2 days ago

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November 14, 2025

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President Donald Trump is intensifying his efforts to thwart attempts to force the release of the Epstein files, even as the House moves toward a vote that could send disclosure legislation to his desk for his signature — or veto — further heightening scrutiny of his past ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

On Friday, the president announced he will ask the U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation “to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him.”

The New York Times reported that the “inquiry appeared to be retribution for the renewed focus on his own ties to Mr. Epstein.”

After White House officials reportedly held a Situation Room meeting with Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert on Wednesday to convince her — unsuccessfully — to remove her name from the discharge petition, the president on Friday took a different tack, appearing both to try to wash his hands of the entire ordeal while refocusing attention on his political opponents and others.

“Epstein was a Democrat, and he is the Democrat’s problem, not the Republican’s problem!” Trump railed on his Truth Social website, while attacking Democrats.

“The Democrats are doing everything in their withering power to push the Epstein Hoax again, despite the DOJ releasing 50,000 pages of documents, in order to deflect from all of their bad policies and losses, especially the SHUTDOWN EMBARRASSMENT, where their party is in total disarray, and has no idea what to do,” Trump alleged.

“Some Weak Republicans have fallen into their clutches because they are soft and foolish,” the president continued. “Epstein was a Democrat, and he is the Democrat’s problem, not the Republican’s problem!”

“Ask Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, and Larry Summers about Epstein, they know all about him, don’t waste your time with Trump. I have a Country to run!”

Deadline on Friday noted that “Since the email release, Trump has avoided answering reporters’ questions about Epstein.”

Pointing to Trump’s Friday remarks, Politico’s Kyle Cheney remarked, “Trump again pleads with Republicans to stop talking about Epstein. The pressure hasn’t worked as well as it usually does. Also, the emails show Epstein was politically amorphous, deriding Ds just as much as Rs. And these latest emails were from the Epstein estate, not DOJ.”

Attorney Aaron Parnas added, “I guarantee you if Donald Trump truly believed Epstein was the ‘Democrat’s problem,’ he would have released all of the files by now.”

 

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