President Donald Trump acknowledged that he and intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard are “a little bit different” in how they approach the matter of Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Asked by reporters aboard Air Force One whether he still had confidence in Gabbard as his Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Trump said he did, but followed up by outlining where they differ on Iran.
“She’s a little bit different in her thought process than me, but that doesn’t make somebody not available to serve,” he said late Sunday. “I would say that I’m very strong in the fact that I don’t want Iran to have a nuclear weapon, because if they had a nuclear weapon, they would use it immediately. I think she’s probably a little bit softer on that issue, but that’s okay.”
When approached for comment, the Office of the DNI offered TIME a statement from White House communications director Steven Cheung, saying: “As President Trump said in his remarks, he has confidence in Director Gabbard and the tireless work she is doing.”
Gabbard was questioned about Iran nuclear intelligence claims during a tense Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on March 18.
The intelligence chief, who previously served as a Democratic Congresswoman before leaving the party, said Iran had not rebuilt its uranium enrichment program following joint U.S.-Israel strikes on three key Iranian nuclear sites in June last year.
“As a result of Operation Midnight Hammer, Iran’s nuclear enrichment program was obliterated,” Gabbard wrote in her opening statement ahead of the hearing. “There has been no efforts since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability. The entrances to the underground facilities that were bombed have been buried and shuttered with cement.”
Gabbard did not include the part of her statement about Iran not having rebuilt its enrichment capability when she read it during the hearing’s opening.
Her assessment appeared to contradict one of Trump’s core justifications for launching…
