(Bloomberg) — President-elect Donald Trump is tapping former U.S. Rep. and former Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard to be his director of national intelligence, raising a loyalist and skeptic of support for Ukraine to coordinate agencies of the nation’s espionage.

“As a former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, she has broad support in both parties — now she’s a proud Republican!” Trump said in a statement. “I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that defined her illustrious career to our intelligence community.”

Gabbard, who represented Hawaii in the US House as a Democrat from 2013 to 2021, is a veteran of the Iraq War and continues to serve as an officer in the Army Reserve. She ran for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in the 2020 election, before dropping out of the race and endorsing President Joe Biden.

But Gabbard clashed with fellow Democrats and announced in 2022 that she was leaving the party. As a frequent guest on Fox News, she often criticized members of her own party, and later served as a fill-in host on Tucker Carlson’s show before leaving the network.

This cycle, she embraced Trump, appearing with him at events and serving as an honorary co-chairman of his transition team alongside another former Democrat, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Gabbard announced in October that he was joining the Republican Party.

She advocated for fewer US troop deployments abroad and criticized Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s election rival, for seeking the support of Republican “warriors” such as former Vice President Dick Cheney and former representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.

Gabbard met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria in January 2017 and later expressed skepticism that Assad had used chemical weapons on his own citizens, contrary to US intelligence assessments. She criticized Trump for launching missile strikes on Syrian territory in April 2017, calling it “short-sighted.”

Like Trump and his Vice President-elect, JD Vance, Gabbard has expressed skepticism about defending Ukraine. She wrote a post on X in February 2022 that the war “could have been easily avoided if the Biden Admin/NATO had simply recognized Russia’s legitimate security concerns about Ukraine becoming a NATO member, which would mean the forces USA/NATO right on Russia’s border. “

America’s 17 intelligence agencies report to ODNI, including higher-profile power centers such as the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The role could put Gabbard in an uncomfortable position with Trump. The president-elect has had a hostile relationship with the intelligence community, siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his own agencies’ assessment of Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 election and accusing the “deep state” of being “weaponized” against him. his. allies and supporters.

Trump has also been criticized for tampering with America’s best-kept secrets, including sharing sensitive information from Israel with Russian officials early in his White House tenure. He was later indicted for allegedly keeping highly classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort after his first term ended.

The function of ODNI became politicized during his first term. John Ratcliffe, who had no significant intelligence experience when he replaced Dan Coats, was criticized for releasing classified Russian disinformation related to Hilary Clinton and the 2016 campaign.

Trump said he would nominate Ratcliffe to head the CIA.

–With assistance from Natalia Drozdiak.

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