Donald Trump’s national intelligence chief finally broke her silence on his Venezuela raid only to be relentlessly skewered for her “spineless” take.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, 44—who has long taken a staunch anti-interventionist stance on foreign affairs—was busy posting a series of serene beachside yoga shots to her personal X account in the run-up to President Trump’s surprise Caracas operation, having reportedly been sidelined from planning.
While Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were seen alongside Trump at Mar-a-Lago during the secret raid to take out Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, Gabbard was noticeably absent, and her prolonged silence after the operation raised more than a few eyebrows.
After her office did not respond to the Daily Beast Swamp newsletter’s inquiries about where she was or what role she played, The Washington Post on Wednesday quoted three current and former U.S. officials who said Gabbard was largely kept out of the operation.
That revelation came after Gabbard finally broke her three-day silence on the raid on Tuesday, posting from her official government X account: “Kudos to our servicemen and women and intelligence operators for their flawless execution of President Trump’s order to deliver on his promise through Operation Absolute Resolve.”
Gabbard’s fawning statement was immediately torn apart by critics, however.
Her January 2019 declaration that the U.S. “needs to stay out of Venezuela” was thrown back in her face on social media. While serving as a congresswoman a year before she ran to be president on an anti-interventionist ticket, the Iraq War veteran had written on X: “Let the Venezuelan people determine their future. We don’t want other countries to choose our leaders--so we have to stop trying to choose theirs.”
Then, in May that year, she warned on Fox News: “Military intervention in Venezuela will wreak death & destruction to Venezuelan people, and increase tensions that threaten our national security.”
Gabbard’s apparent hypocrisy lit up social media. Attorney Ari Cohn told her, “It should be embarrassing to you how quickly you abandon all of your supposed principles in order to appease Trump and keep your gig. It’s just so… shameless.”
Others made similar points, replying with her previous posts warning of the dangers of going into Venezuela and calling her “spineless” or, more charitably, asking: “What changed?”
Gabbard’s belated Trump praise also added fuel to questions about whether she had played any meaningful role in the operation.
The Daily Beast contacted the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the White House to ask. They did not immediately respond.
The situation in Venezuela in the wake of Maduro’s capture is unclear. Delcy Rodríguez, 56—Venezuela’s longtime vice president—has effectively become the face of its leadership since the raid, denouncing Maduro’s capture as an “illegal and illegitimate kidnapping” in an emergency broadcast while insisting “there is only one president” and that it remains Maduro.
Trump, meanwhile, has publicly suggested the White House will “run” Venezuela during a transition and even indicated Rodríguez had spoken with Rubio about cooperating—before Rubio spent Sunday trying to reframe that as the U.S. “running policy,” not the country itself.
Trump and his administration—who came to power promising no more foreign wars—have also been talking up a wider assault, making threats against Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, and Greenland under the president’s self-styled “Donroe Doctrine.”
