Donald Trump admitted that he’s ignoring what his Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard tells him about Iran—he’s just going on vibes.
The president sided with Israeli intelligence over the intel from his own government Tuesday, telling reporters that he believed Iran was “very close” to having a nuclear weapon, despite Gabbard saying otherwise, according to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
“I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having it,” Trump said.
In March, Gabbard testified the exact opposite while presenting the annual threat assessment before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. “The [intelligence community] continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamanei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003,” she said. “The IC is closely monitoring if Tehran decides to reauthorize its nuclear weapons program.”
U.S. intelligence suggested that Iran was three years away from obtaining its own nuclear weapon, four people familiar with the assessment told CNN in a story published Tuesday.
Gabbard, however, promptly began lying about her own threat assessment to reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday, to appear more in line with Trump’s comments.
“President Trump was saying the same thing that I said in my annual threat assessment back in March,” she said, although it was completely untrue.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Sunday that Iran had a “secret plan” to acquire a nuclear weapon and was “marching very quickly,” as justification for his sweeping military operation in Iran that began last week.
Netanyahu brushed off the differing conclusions of U.S. and Israeli intelligence when asked if there had been a change between March and last week, or if the U.S. intelligence was incorrect. “The intel we got and we shared with the United States was absolutely clear,” he said.
Trump fled the G7 summit Monday night after just one day, claiming that it had nothing to do with a potential ceasefire between Iran and Israel, and that whatever it was was “much bigger than that!” Just hours before, Trump had demanded the evacuation of Tehran, causing widespread chaos as Iranians fled their homes for safety.
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