Who is Trump intelligence pick Tulsi Gabbard, accused of repeating Russian talking points?

Tulsi Gabbard - a erstwhile Democratic congresswoman who joined the Republican Party to backmost Donald Trump - is the president-elect's prime for manager of nationalist intelligence.

The wide-ranging relation would mean she oversees US quality agencies similar the CIA, FBI and the National Security Agency (NSA), which focuses connected quality gathering.

The information has raised questions implicit Gabbard's deficiency of acquisition successful quality arsenic good arsenic accusations that she has successful the past amplified Russia propaganda.

She volition necessitate Senate confirmation to instrumentality up the role.

If she is confirmed to the relation Gabbard would negociate a fund of more than $70bn (£55bn) and oversee 18 quality agencies.

But the information has sparked disapproval successful immoderate quarters.

Reacting to the assignment connected X, Democratic Virginia congresswoman subordinate of the House Intelligence Committee Abigail Spanberger said she was "appalled astatine the information of Tulsi Gabbard".

"Not lone is she ill-prepared and unqualified, but she traffics successful conspiracy theories and cozies up to dictators similar Bashar-al Assad and Vladimir Putin," she said.

A subject seasoned who served with a aesculapian portion successful Iraq, Gabbard has acceptable a fig of governmental precedents successful her career.

She was archetypal elected to the Hawaii State Legislature aged 21 successful 2002, the youngest idiosyncratic ever elected successful the state. She near aft 1 word erstwhile her National Guard portion was deployed to Iraq.

Gabbard went connected to correspond Hawaii successful Congress from 2013 until 2021 - becoming the archetypal Hindu to service successful the House.

She antecedently championed wide causes similar government-run healthcare, escaped assemblage tuition and weapon control. These issues were portion of her 2020 tally for the Democratic statesmanlike information - which she yet dropped retired of, endorsing Joe Biden.

In 2022 she near the Democratic Party and initially registered arsenic an autarkic - accusing her erstwhile enactment of being an “elitist cabal of warmongers” driven by "cowardly wokeness".

Becoming a contributor to Fox News, she was vocal connected topics specified arsenic sex and state of code and became an outspoken protagonist of Donald Trump earlier joining the Republican Party little than a period ago.

In 2019, during Gabbard's bid to unafraid the Democratic statesmanlike information she was criticised by rivals aft receiving seemingly favourable sum connected Russian authorities media.

In the aforesaid year, she besides faced disapproval for her perceived enactment of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, seen arsenic a cardinal Russian ally.

She said Assad "is not the force of the United States due to the fact that Syria does not airs a nonstop menace to the United States" - and defended gathering him successful 2017, during Trump's archetypal term.

In that aforesaid year, she said successful an interrogation with CNN that she was "sceptical" that the Syrian authorities was down a chemic weapons onslaught which killed dozens of people.

Trump said determination could beryllium "no quality that Syria utilized banned chemic weapons", speaking aft the United States launched a rocket onslaught connected Syrian aerial basal successful response.

In 2019, Gabbard did besides picture Assad arsenic a "brutal dictator".

Gabbard has besides made a drawstring of arguable statements relating to Russia and its full-scale penetration of Ukraine.

Writing connected societal media connected the time Russia invaded, she said the warfare could person been prevented if had the US and its Western allies had recognised Russia's "legitimate information concerns" astir Ukraine's bid to articulation Nato.

The pursuing month, she said it was an "undeniable fact" that determination were US-funded biolabs successful Ukraine that could "release and dispersed deadly pathogens" arsenic she called for a ceasefire.

In response, Republican legislator Mitt Romney said Gabbard had embraced "actual Russian propaganda".

On Russian TV her information arsenic quality manager is being framed arsenic apt to complicate Washington's relations with Ukraine.

Rossiya 1 analogous Dmitry Melnikov said that her information "does not bode good for Kyiv", noting that successful the past she "openly accused the Biden medication of provoking Russia".

The channel's presenter besides pointed retired that Gabbard had "strongly criticised Zelensky and called for dialog with Russia".

Additional reporting BBC Monitoring's Karine Mirumyan