Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is defending her recent congressional testimony regarding Iran’s nuclear program after a wave of media coverage and public statements raised questions about her role and credibility within the Trump administration.
Critics have speculated that Gabbard, who assumed the position earlier this year, may have been sidelined from key national security decisions following her March 25 appearance before the Senate. During the hearing, she stated that the U.S. intelligence community assessed that Iran was not currently building a nuclear weapon.
“The (intelligence community) continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon,” Gabbard told senators in March. She also warned that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium had reached unprecedented levels for a country without nuclear arms. “Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons,” she said, while further outlining Iran’s continued destabilizing role in the Middle East.
Her comments resurfaced in the media this week, prompting pushback from within the administration and from political allies. On Friday, President Donald Trump directly contradicted Gabbard’s assessment.
“She’s wrong,” Trump said during a press interaction. “My intelligence community is wrong.”
The president’s statement came in response to a reporter referencing Gabbard’s Senate testimony, raising questions about the consistency of intelligence assessments on Iran’s nuclear intentions.
In a post on social media platform X, Gabbard defended her remarks, stating that her testimony was being misrepresented by what she called “dishonest media.”
“The dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division,” she wrote. “America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the assembly. President Trump has been clear that can’t happen, and I agree.”
The post included a video of her full testimony, providing additional context to her remarks.
Retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who briefly served as national security adviser under Trump and previously led the Defense Intelligence Agency, defended Gabbard in an interview with conservative commentator Benny Johnson. Flynn suggested that Gabbard had been misled by career intelligence officials.
“I believe that particular testimony, where she talked about Iran not having nuclear weapons… That was a setup,” Flynn said. “She’s only a couple of weeks into the job. She’s taken what the intel — the smartest people in our intelligence community — say about something, and she presents it.”
Flynn went on to argue that many of the intelligence personnel Gabbard inherited were holdovers from the Obama and Biden administrations, suggesting political bias may have influenced the briefing materials she was given.
Vice President JD Vance also came to Gabbard’s defense, emphasizing her importance to the Trump administration’s national security strategy.
“DNI Gabbard is a veteran, a patriot, a loyal supporter of President Trump and a critical part of the coalition he built in 2024,” Vance told Fox News Digital. “She is an essential member of our team, and we’re grateful for her tireless work to keep America safe from foreign threats.”
Despite the internal debate, no official changes to Gabbard’s role have been announced, and she remains at the helm of the intelligence community.