'Pathetic, craven': Tulsi Gabbard faces backlash after 'desperate' statement on Iran war

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard faced criticism for her response to the resignation of Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center.

In his resignation letter, Kent said that he was quitting because he could not "in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran."

Gabbard responded hours later by expressing tepid support for President Donald Trump. But she did not come out in favor of or criticize the war effort.

"The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is responsible for helping coordinate and integrate all intelligence to provide the President and Commander in Chief with the best information available to inform his decisions," Gabbard wrote. "After carefully reviewing all the information before him, President Trump concluded that the terrorist Islamist regime in Iran posed an imminent threat and he took action based on that conclusion."

"Pathetic, craven, desperate for power, total and permanent drain of integrity," libertarian lawyer Glenn Greenwald replied.

"This neither contradicts Joe Kent nor defends the President's Iran policy," former national security staffer Tommy Vietor noted.

"A statement clearly made in response to Kent, but one that actually never says if she supports the war!" the Bulwark's Sam Stein observed.

"The Director of National Intelligence says that an imminent threat is whatever the president says is an imminent threat," ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl wrote. "But nowhere in this statement, does she say that she agrees that Iran posed an imminent threat — or that the intelligence supports such a conclusion."

"What a worm this woman is. It's amazing how little dignity she has," Richard Hanania remarked. "Of all the people who've grabbed on to the Trump train, she is the one who has done so with the least to show for it and the least plausible story of how it fits with her principles. And that's saying a lot!"