Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard spoke at a Turning Point USA rally Sunday in Florida and criticized the “deep state.”
As Gabbard is the United States’ DNI, Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner of Virginia raised concerns Monday.
“What we have here is a Director of National Intelligence willing to break decades of precedent to attack her own workforce and weaponize American intelligence at a political rally,” Warner said.
Turning Point, founded in 2012 and headquartered in Arizona, is a nonprofit organization that works to identify, educate, train and organize conservative students about the role of government.
Gabbard spoke at the Student Action Summit 2025 held in Tampa this past weekend. She blamed former President Joe Biden for what she called “lawfare” waged against now President Donald Trump while Biden was president. She said that Trump was often in court fighting against propaganda, smears and lies.
“How many times they actually tried to throw him in jail,” Gabbard said. She said she often reflected then of what was behind the “lawfare” and she said Biden and supporters were “acting out of fear” and were afraid of Trump and his supporters. “Terrified that we might actually use our freedom, that we might actually lift up our voices.”
According to Gabbard, she, Trump and his other supporters are what “America First” is all about and the “deep state” fought hard to prevent Trump from being elected.
“This memory of this, which every one of us played an important role in bringing about, is so important to keep at the forefront, because the deep state has not gone away. They exist within every single agency of the federal government, in the national security state, in the propaganda media,” Gabbard said.
Gabbard mentioned that information would be “declassified soon” then proceeded to explain that information from when Biden first took office in January 2021 revealed to the Trump Administration that the Biden Administration had identified individuals to “target” as violent extremists. The then-classified information was shared with then-DNI Avril Haines, the first woman to serve in the position, including what to look for in a violent extremist.
Gabbard said the extremists targeted by the Biden Administration were individuals who were unhappy with COVID-19 pandemic policies, including parents who were afraid their children would be vaccinated at school against their wishes.
“We have to expose their tactics and the playbook of the deep state so that we the people can make sure we never allow this to happen again. By electing President Trump, we chose our Constitution. We chose freedom of speech,” Gabbard said in Florida.
Warner said Gabbard is not able to adhere to the oath she took when appointed DNI and that her claims to care about depoliticizing intelligence are not compatible with reality.
“When will my Republican colleagues, who claim to care about national security, finally speak up? Our intelligence community deserves better,” Warner said Monday.
Gabbard said that electing Trump as president was a vote for Americans‘ right to freedom, right to bear arms and right to privacy. As DNI, she said she sees every day the work of the “deep state” in American government. She encouraged students in attendance to “stand united in this fight” against the “deep state.”
She called out The Washington Post, The New York Times and the Atlantic for printing what she said are “lies.” She reminded the students of the day one year ago when Trump was shot at during a presidential campaign rally in Pennsylvania. She encouraged the students to be “joyful warriors.”
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Rebecca Barnabi
