NBC’s Kristen Welker Straight-Up Asks Dem Leader If Trump’s Intel Pick ‘Is a Russian Asset?’
Meet the Press host Kristen Welker straight-up asked Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) if President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for intel chief — Rep. Tulsi Gabbard — is “a Russian asset.”
Trump made news this week with cabinet picks that are drawing outrage. Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to be Trump’s attorney general was met with near-universal shock Wednesday. That selection comes as Trump has picked former Fox News host Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense and Gabbard as his nominee for the director of national intelligence.
On Sunday morning’s edition of NBC’s Meet the Press, Welker confronted Jeffries with the criticism — leveled by many opponents — that Gabbard is a foreign asset.
She had to ask twice, and Leader Jeffries said he’s not there — yet:
KRISTEN WELKER: President-elect Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, of course, your former colleague in the House. Here’s what Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz had to say about her just this week. Take a look.
[START TAPE]
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Tulsi Gabbard is someone who has met with war criminals, violated the Department of State’s guidance and secretly, clandestinely went to Syria and met with Assad, who gassed and attacked his own people with chemical weapons. She’s considered to be essentially, by most assessments, a Russian asset.
[END TAPE]
KRISTEN WELKER: Leader Jeffries, do you agree that she’s a Russian asset?
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES: Here’s what I have to say about several of the nominations that have been made by the incoming president, including the one that Debbie Wasserman Schultz was referring to. The incoming president, throughout the campaign, promised the American people that we would have the best economy, the best border security and the best administration possible.The question that has to be asked: Is this the best that we can do in the context of some of these nominations? Is this the very best that America has to offer for a moment like this, with so many challenges that we confront? Of course not. America deserves better. Hopefully, we’ll see the Senate Republicans do their job, scrutinize these picks, certainly confirm those that meet the basic level of qualifications and reject others.
KRISTEN WELKER: Leader Jeffries, you’re not willing to say she’s a Russian asset?
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES: No, that’s not how I would characterize her at that – this particular juncture. But I’m open to scrutinizing whatever information is presented to all of us. But this is going to fall on Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans.
Watch above via NBC’s Meet the Press.
