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By Ewan Palmer
News Reporter
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Tulsi Gabbard's supportive views on Russia make her a "dangerous" pick by President-elect Donald Trump for director of national intelligence, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO has said.
Ivo Daalder, who served in the Barack Obama administration, made the remarks while discussing a 2017 memo in which Gabbard reportedly criticized the U.S. and NATO following Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, a territory still internationally recognized as part of Ukraine.
In the memo, obtained by ABC News, Gabbard is said to have stated that U.S. and Western "hostility" toward Russian President Vladimir Putin led to the annexation of Crimea. She also apparently condemned sanctions she had previously supported, writing: "Russian people are a proud people and they don't want the U.S. and our allies trying to control them and their government." Newsweek has not independently verified the contents of the memo.
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Newsweek has contacted Gabbard for comment via social media and the Trump transition team outside of regular office hours.
The former Democratic congresswoman's nomination for director of national intelligence has already faced criticism from Democrats and intelligence officials over allegations she helped spread Russian propaganda and expressed "sympathy for dictators." Claims about the memo were featured in a report citing unnamed former Gabbard campaign staffers, who said she regularly read and shared articles from the Russian outlet RT, formerly known as Russia Today, widely seen as a broadcaster which spreads Moscow propaganda.
Speaking to ABC News, Daalder said Gabbard's views on Russia and Putin in the 2017 memo followed "basically the Russian playbook."
"It's dangerous," Daalder said. "That strain of thinking is not unique to Tulsi Gabbard, but it is certainly not where you would think a major figure in any administration would like to be, intellectually."
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In September 2014, Gabbard issued a statement warning against the U.S. "standing idly by while Russia continues to degrade the territorial integrity of Ukraine."
Years later, Gabbard reportedly changed her tune and said U.S. and NATO hostility was to blame for Russia's incursion into Crimea.
"There certainly isn't any guarantee to Putin that we won't try to overthrow Russia's government," she wrote in May 2017, according to ABC. "In fact, I'm pretty sure there are American politicians who would love to do that."
Gabbard is also said by ABC to have criticized U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia after the annexation of Crimea, writing: "Historically, the U.S. has always wanted Russia to be a poor country."
"It's a matter of respect," Gabbard added. "The Russian people are a proud people, and they don't want the U.S. and our allies trying to control them and their government."
Elsewhere, Doug London, a former veteran intelligence officer, criticized Gabbard over reports that her world views were shaped in part by outlets as the Kremlin-controlled news network RT.
"That Gabbard's views mirror Russia's narrative and disinformation themes can but suggest naïveté, collusion, or politically opportunistic sycophancy to echo whatever she believes Trump wants to hear," London told ABC News.
"None of which bodes well for the president's principal intelligence adviser responsible for enabling the [U.S. intelligence community] to inform decision-making by telling it like it is."
Alexa Henning, a spokesperson for the Trump transition team, dismissed the claims in the ABC News report that Gabbard regularly consumed articles from RT.
"This is false and nothing but a few former, conveniently anonymous, disgruntled staffers," Henning said.
"Lt. Col. Gabbard's views on foreign policy have been shaped by her military service and multiple deployments to war zones, where she's seen the cost of war and who ultimately pays the price."
In September, the State Department warned that RT had "moved beyond being simply a media outlet" and had become "an entity with cyber capabilities."
That same month, the Department of Justice charged two RT employees with allegedly funding a right-wing media organization with millions of dollars to publish pro-Russian content aimed at influencing the outcome of the 2024 election.
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