GOP Sen. Mullin hits back at dangerous claims by Democrats about Trump pick being a Russian asset

Sen.Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) fired back at what he described as “dangerous” and false accusations by a senate colleague about President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Director of National Intelligence being a Russian asset.

In an interview on CNN Sunday, Sen.Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) harked back to DNI-designate Tulsi Gabbard’s 2017 meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and coziness with Russia, implying she might be “compromised.”“I think by going to Syria and basically backing this brutal dictator there — I mean, Russian-controlled media called her a Russian asset.

So I do think that we have a real deep concern whether or not she’s a compromised person,” Duckworth told CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday earlier in the program.“Frankly … the U.S.

intelligence community has identified her as having troubling relationships with America’s foes.And so my worry is that she couldn’t pass a background check.”Duckworth, 56, who sits on both the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on Foreign Relations, added that “I worry that she will not have America’s best interests at heart.” Mullin, 47, who had stressed he has “respect” for Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran who lost both her legs in battle, leapt to Gabbard’s defense and insisted there was no “file on her.”“For her to say ridiculous and outright dangerous words like that is wrong.

You have got to keep in mind that Tulsi Gabbard is still a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army,” the Oklahoma senator said on the program.“She is a true patriot of the United States, and there’s no reason why the Democrats are going after her, other than the fact they’re upset that she left their woke party,” he went on.Trump, 78, had announced Gabbard, 43, as his pick to serve as DNI, a position created in the wake of the Sept.

11, 2001, terrorist attacks to ensure coordination between the US’ 18 intelligence agencies.Gabbard was registered as a De...