Trump berates Tulsi Gabbard on Iran amid reports she’s become irrelevant in his government: 'She's wrong'

MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY: President Donald Trump did not hesitate in undermining Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard during a Q&A with reporters on Friday, June 20, afternoon.

His dismissal of Gabbard came amid reports claiming she’s become irrelevant in the Republican leader’s administration, as reported by MEDIAITE.

After landing in Morristown, New Jersey, Trump spoke with the media on the tarmac, where he was questioned by MSNBC’s Vaughn Hillyard on his thinking about striking Iran.

Trump calls Tulsi Gabbard ‘wrong’ on Iran's nuclear programme

Trump replied that since Iran had gathered “a tremendous amount of [nuclear] material,” he’s considering attacking it.

The reporter further asked, “What intelligence do you have that Iran is building a nuclear weapon? Your intelligence community has said they have no evidence that they are at this point.”

But the commander-in-chief hit back, “Well, then my intelligence community is wrong. Who in the intelligence community said that?”

When Hillyard replied, “Your director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard,” Trump without any hesitation added, “She’s wrong.”

Trump had rebuked Tulsi Gabbard while talking about Iran

The 79-year-old’s statement against the 44-year-old politician was very similar to what he said about her on Air Force One on Monday evening.

At the time, Trump was asked about Gabbard’s assessment that Iran was not preparing a nuclear weapon.

She had reportedly told the Senate Intelligence Committee in March that “Iran's cyber operations and capabilities present a serious threat to US networks and data.”

She, however, added that the intelligence community “continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.”

Gabbard had also noted that “we continue to monitor closely if Tehran decides to reauthorize its nuclear weapons program.”

But Trump on June 16 asserted, “I don't care what she said. I think they were very close to having one.”

Trump became infuriated after Tulsi Gabbard’s shared unauthorized video

Apart from this, the US leader is believed to be angry with Gabbard after she posted an unauthorized video on June 10 that was against nuclear war.

The tweet reportedly made Trump very angry. But an unnamed senior administration official told Politico, “I don’t think he dislikes Tulsi as a person … But certainly the video made him not super hot on her … and he doesn’t like it when people are off message.”

Also, as per Vice President JD Vance, “Tulsi Gabbard is a veteran, a patriot, a loyal supporter of President Trump, and a critical part of the coalition he built in 2024.”

Tulsi Gabbard slams 'dishonest media'

Meanwhile, hours after Trump made the statement against Gabbard on June 20, she released a video on her X page, calling out media for "spreading fake news".

She wrote, "The dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division."

"America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the assembly. President Trump has been clear that can’t happen, and I agree. My full testimony below," Gabbard added.