President Donald Trump‘s new Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard appeared on Fox News Sunday and criticized European countries that have voiced support of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after his tumultuous televised conversation with Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office on Friday.
Trump and Vance accused Zelensky of being “ungrateful” for the U.S. aid Ukraine has received over the past three years and ended the meeting without signing a deal with the Ukraine leader granting the U.S. generous rights to Ukraine’s valuable mineral deposits. The meeting took place in an already tense environment, with the Trump administration signaling an imminent end to Ukraine support and beginning peace negotiations directly with Russia — without Ukraine of any other European nation at the table.
(Note: Trump and Vance have studiously avoided noting that Russian President Vladimir Putin triggered the war by invading Ukraine, with Trump saying instead that it was a “bad war to get into” for Ukraine.)
Gabbard said on Sunday: “Many of these European countries, and Zelensky himself, who claim to be standing and fighting for the cause of freedom and democracy when we actually look at what’s happening, in reality in these countries as well as Zelensky’s government in Ukraine, is the exact opposite.”
Gabbard added: “You have the cancellation of elections in Ukraine, you have political parties being silenced, or even criminalized or thrown in prison. You have the freedom of religion, you have churches being shut down.”
The U.S. Intelligence Director then said of Ukraine, not Russia: “You have total government control of the media,” which she said “go against the values of democracy and freedom.”
Gabbard also said of Ukraine: “It’s clear they’re standing against Putin, that’s clear. But what are they actually really fighting for, and are they aligned with the values that they claim to hold in agreement with us.”
Given an easy opportunity to criticize Putin, Gabbard immediately pivots to bashing Zelenskyy pic.twitter.com/vTwYcQXL73
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 2, 2025
Former CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos replied to Gabbard’s comments: “As I noted this morning on @msnbc, Gabbard showed her total inexperience-and service as a partisan Trump toadie-with her comments. This is NOT what intelligence chiefs do.”
Polymeropoulos who served as a U.S. senior intelligence service officer for 26 years, added: “It took the US intelligence community over a decade to build up our relationship with the Ukrainians. To a point where it is one of the best relationships that we have, in the world. But Gabbard did some real damage here.”
So the DNI’s public comments after the Oval office fiasco reinforced all the fears that she is not up to this (great job GOP senators, you all knew this of course). She may have done real damage here, to a key intel relationship. And it was totally unnecessary.
— Marc Polymeropoulos (@Mpolymer) March 3, 2025
He added: “So the DNI’s public comments after the Oval office fiasco reinforced all the fears that she is not up to this (great job GOP senators, you all knew this of course). She may have done real damage here, to a key intel relationship. And it was totally unnecessary.”
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) responded to Gabbard’s comments: “They all have instructions – for some reason – to parrot Russian talking points. They all do it like a religion.”
They all have instructions – for some reason – to parrot Russian talking points. They all do it like a religion. https://t.co/cH3HS7E6CA
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) March 3, 2025
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