Sen. Jon Ossoff on Wednesday cornered Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard over President Donald Trump’s false claims that he launched a war with Iran because it was an “imminent” threat to US national security.
During a Senate Select Intelligence Committee hearing, Ossoff (D-Ga.) questioned Gabbard about how any purported threat from Iran could possibly be deemed “imminent” given past administration statements about the state of its nuclear weapons program.
Ossoff began by noting that Gabbard’s opening statement given to the committee ahead of the meeting claimed that “Iran’s nuclear enrichment program was obliterated” as a result of airstrikes launched last year by the US.
“So the assessment of the intelligence community is that Iran’s nuclear enrichment program was obliterated by last summer’s airstrikes?” he asked.
“Yes,” replied Gabbard, who prior to joining the Trump administration had a long history of advocating against launching a regime change war against Iran.
“The opening statement you submitted to the community last night also stated, ‘There has been no effort since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability,’ correct?” Ossoff continued.
“That’s right,” Gabbard replied.
“The White House stated on March 4 of this year that this war... was a ‘military campaign to eliminate the imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime,’” Ossoff said. “That’s a statement from the White House: ‘The imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime.’...
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