By David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday chose Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman and an outspoken critic of the Biden administration's foreign policy, to become his director of national intelligence.
Gabbard, 43, left the Democratic party in 2022 and was considered a possible candidate to become Trump's Republican running mate. She would take over from Avril Haines as top official in the sprawling U.S. intelligence community after Trump starts his second term in January.
She is not expected to face difficulty being confirmed in the Senate, where Trump's fellow Republicans will hold at least a 52-to-48-seat majority starting early next year.
But the former U.S. representative from Hawaii could face some opposition, especially from President Joe Biden's fellow Democrats, for her past criticism of the current administration's support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. She also spoke out against military intervention in the civil war in Syria under former President Barack Obama.
"I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our intelligence community, championing our constitutional rights and securing peace through strength," Trump said in a statement.
Gabbard, he said, has for more than two decades "fought for the freedom of our country and the freedom of all Americans."
Gabbard has little direct experience with intelligence work and had not been widely expected to be tapped for the post, which oversees 18 spy agencies.
She was deployed in Iraq from 2004 to 2005 as a major in the Hawaii National Guard and is now a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves.
Gabbard unsuccessfully sought the 2020 Democratic nomination for that year’s presidential election won by Joe Biden, who she then endorsed.
After leaving the Democratic Party, she became increasingly critical of Biden and his administration and grew popular among conservatives, often appearing on far-right TV and radio shows, where she became known for supporting isolationist policies and showing disdain for "wokeness."
ENDORSEMEHT OF TRUMP
Gabbard, who endorsed Trump for his return to the presidency, advised him ahead of his pre-election debate with Vice President Kamala Harris in September and defended him in the face of what critics called a series of racist and sexist attacks against his Democratic rival.
"President Trump respects women and doesn't feel the need to be patronizing or to speak to women in any other way than he would speak to a man," she said.
Gabbard consistently opposed U.S. intervention in Syria, even meeting secretly with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in January 2017, who was accused of widespread human rights abuses. The meeting sparked criticism from both sides of the aisle in Congress.
In 2019, Gabbard became embroiled in a war of words after 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Gabbard was being "groomed" to disrupt the 2020 election as a third-party candidate.
Gabbard sued for defamation, seeking at least $50 million in damages from Clinton for harming her reputation by allegedly suggesting she was a Russian asset. She dropped the suit in May 2020.
This February, when Gabbard's name came up as a possible vice presidential running mate for Trump, she spoke at CPAC and gave a speech portraying Trump as a victim of political persecution.
"It's lunacy and it's the mindset and mentality of dictators. They are waging a multi-front battle and they will stop at nothing until they’re successful," she said.