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A defiant Tulsi Gabbardwas pushed to the defensive during a tense questioning session onCapitol Hill. 

The head of the nation’s intelligence community endured a sharp round of questioning from Congressman Jimmy Gomez, aDemocrat, who asked to find out if she still supported her contentious statement from last year thatIranis not seeking to develop a nuclear weapon.

As the room paused, a stoic Gabbard countered with ‘context is important’—declining to offer a straightforward yes or no.

Context is important with that statement,” Gabbard remarked. “Iran possessed all the materials and capabilities to do so.

Gomez questioned her, “Were you lying or not?”

“I support the intelligence community’s full evaluation,” Gabbard said.

It was a remarkable event, especially since President Donald Trump mentioned Iran’s expanding nuclear aspirations as his condition for engaging in war with the country almost three weeks prior.

The pressure escalated to a critical moment when the inquiry was directed at CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who coldly stated, ‘She can represent herself.’

Gabbard, a vocal opponent of war, remained reserved about her actual opinions during the intense questioning.

Notably, Democratic Representative Joaquin Castro from Texas also questioned Gabbard about whether the United States and Israel share the same objectives in the conflict with Iran.

Following a lengthy silence, Gabbard replied, “I’m carefully considering what can be expressed in this public environment compared to a private one.”

Gabbard outlined two distinct goals, stating that Trump’s focus is on undermining Iran’s ballistic missile development, whereas Israel’s aims are more centered on toppling the regime and removing key leadership.

“We can observe from the operations that the Israeli government has been concentrating on undermining the Iranian leadership and eliminating several individuals, starting with the ayatollah, the supreme leader, and they remain focused on this goal,” she stated.

“What’s the difference between this and our objectives?” Castro remarked.

“The president has mentioned that his goals are to eliminate Iran’s ability to launch ballistic missiles, their capacity to produce such missiles, and their Navy, specifically the IRGC Navy, along with their mine-laying capability,” she said.

Gabbard also failed to provide an explanation for why Israel chose to attack Iranian energy facilities, despite the President stating that such targets were off-limits.

Gabbard was navigating a delicate balance between her previous anti-war activism and her current position as the country’s leading intelligence official during today’s hearing.

Faced with Rep. Ami Bera’s question about whether she still maintains that ‘strikes against Iran without congressional approval are an illegal and unconstitutional act of war,’ Gabbard declined to give a direct answer.

Alternatively, she shared an insight into her military experience, stating to the committee, ‘The price of war has a profound impact on me and my fellow members here, particularly for those who have personally witnessed and endured the consequences of war.’

She also stated that her “individual and political perspectives” have been ignored.

“I was asked and required by Congress and the president, in my role as director of national intelligence, to set aside those views to ensure that the intelligence assessments are not influenced by my personal opinions,” Gabbard explained.

The director also answered questions for the first time regarding Joe Kent, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center who left his position because of the conflict in Iran.

In his resignation letter, Kent claimed that Israel misled Trump into initiating the conflict.

Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik questioned Gabbard about whether those remarks troubled her, and Gabbard responded with ‘yes.’

He shared many things in that letter,” Gabbard stated. “In the end, we have given the president the intelligence reports, and the President is chosen by the American people, making his own choices based on the information he has access to.

Any indication during the committee meeting that Gabbard was disagreeing with the President could have led to more scrutiny of her allegiance.

She and Vance had a private discussion with Kent regarding his resignation letter, according to the Washington Post.

Kent passionately asserted that Trump had been misled by Israel into attacking Iran and criticized him for breaking his ‘America First’ campaign pledge.

Rumors that Gabbard might be next quickly emerged, with the chances of her leaving rapidly increasing on prediction markets.

The probability of the intelligence director leaving at a senior level stands at 14 percent, an increase from 6 percent, as reported by Kalshi.

This confrontation comes after a long Senate Intelligence Committee session on Wednesday, where the Iran conflict was the main topic, similar to today. During her testimony, Gabbard stated that the Iranian government has been significantly weakened by a continuous series of attacks from the US and Israel.

The official statements from the DNI indicated that following the destructive strikes in June 2025, the government has shown ‘no attempts’ to resume its nuclear enrichment activities.

Each year, this hearing provides the sole public forum in which legislators can question Trump administration officials about their work and evaluations of potential threats.

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