Gabbard pressed on whether Iran posed “imminent threat”

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) pressed Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday on whether Iran posed an “imminent nuclear threat,” as the Trump administration has claimed in justifying its war against the regime.

Ms. Gabbard had skipped over a portion of her prepared opening statement before the Senate Intelligence Committee that stated Iran’s nuclear program had been “obliterated” by the U.S. strikes on the country’s underground facilities last June and that there had been “no efforts since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capacity.”

Sen. Ossoff read that portion during his questioning and asked whether it accurately reflected the intelligence community’s assessment, to which Ms. Gabbard said “yes.”

“The intelligence community assessed that Iran maintained the intention to rebuild and to continue to grow their nuclear enrichment capability,” she replied before Sen. Ossoff cut her off.

Sen. Ossoff repeated the question, prompting Ms. Gabbard to respond that the “only person who can determine what is and is not an imminent threat is the president.”

She said it was not the intelligence community’s responsibility to “determine what is and is not an imminent threat,” leaving Sen. Ossoff incredulous.

“It is precisely your responsibility to determine what constitutes a threat to the United States,” he said, before accusing her of “evading the question.”

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