Tulsi's Latest Circus
UPDATE: Jan 28, 2025 NYT confirms Rome Conference with pro-Russia agenda was cause of Gabbard's incluson on 'Quiet Skies' -- not her anodyne criticism of Harris -- scroll down for NYT excerpts.
After Mysterious Rome Conference, Tulsi Gabbard on Terror Watchlist?
by Andrew Walden, August 12, 2024
In order to advance her Guru's quest for recognition from the real Hindus in India, Gabbard parrots India's Russia-leaning foreign policy by supporting Russia over the Ukraine.
(If this confuses you, catch up on what you have missed >>> HERE.)
Gabbard reacts sharply to Harris becoming Dem Nominee in a video posted to X, July 21, 2024. In the video, Gabbard also states she is in Rome "where I will be joining a dialogue and forum on peace security and prosperity for the Western Hemisphere and Europe."
Gabbard, in an August 7, 2024 interview, reacts to the August 4, 2024, news expose of her 'Quiet Skies' designation. Gabbard states the tracking began July 23 with a flight from Rome to Dallas.
Of course, Gabbard claims her July 21 criticism of Harris is the trigger, but it is far more likely that there is something about that 'conference' which led to the Quiet Skies designation. Given her pro-Russian orientation and her description of the conference, it is most likely she was meeting with other pro-Russian elements in Europe.
Other than Gabbard's mention of it, there is absolutely nothing to be found anywhere on the internet with information about the conference--and nobody seems to be asking.
Meanwhile, there is another circus on the Internet ....
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Tulsi Gabbard Briefly Subject to Special Scrutiny Last Year After Vatican Meeting - The New York Times
NYT Jan 28, 2025: … Starting last summer, former Representative Tulsi Gabbard publicly berated the Biden administration, claiming that she was placed on what she called “a domestic terror watch list” as punishment for critical comments she had made about Vice President Kamala Harris.
The reality was more complicated. A federal agency responsible for protecting flights did briefly subject her to special scrutiny — but not for the reason she asserted, according to two senior U.S. officials briefed on the matter. Rather, they said, the additional security measures were triggered by an event she attended at the Vatican that was organized by a European businessman who appeared on an F.B.I. watch list.
There is no indication that Ms. Gabbard, now President Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, did anything wrong by making the trip. And it is not clear why the F.B.I. had placed the European businessman on the watch list or whether he was placed on it by mistake.
But the travel to Italy, combined with a 2017 visit that Ms. Gabbard made to Syria and Lebanon, has raised questions about the extent to which Mr. Trump’s nominee to serve as the nation’s top intelligence official adequately weighed the implications of her foreign travels and associations….
After Ms. Gabbard went public with her allegations about being punished by the Biden administration, Republicans in Congress demanded answers. Late last year, U.S. transportation officials briefed members of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on why she was subjected to additional scrutiny after the Vatican visit.
Two senior U.S. officials walked The New York Times through the chain of events surrounding the trip on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing sensitive intelligence matters.
Ms. Gabbard flew to Rome in July to attend a meeting in Vatican City organized by a European businessman who runs a foundation.
That businessman, according to the two senior U.S. officials, appeared on a watch list maintained by the F.B.I.’s Terrorist Screening Center. His involvement in Ms. Gabbard’s visit prompted the Transportation Security Administration to place her and her husband, who accompanied her to Rome, in a program called Quiet Skies.
According to the Terrorist Screening Center’s website, the watch list contains information on people “reasonably suspected” of being involved in terrorism or what it calls “related activities.”
The placement of Ms. Gabbard and her husband in the program required that additional security be added to their subsequent flights.
A person close to Ms. Gabbard said that she had no relationship with the European businessman before or after the meeting, and that she did not know that he was on the F.B.I. watch list.
The Times is not publishing the businessman’s name because the U.S. officials would not explain why the F.B.I. put him on the watch list or say whether he was still on it. The bureau declined to comment. According to the Terrorist Screening Center’s website, “for security reasons, the T.S.C. does not confirm anyone’s status on the watch list.”…
Ms. Gabbard declined to answer repeated questions from The Times about whether the European businessman paid for the trip or made the airline reservation….
The businessman has described himself as a private equity investor who had previously invested in Russia, among other countries, and who went on to establish a foundation that holds meetings periodically at the Vatican that bring together Americans, Russians, Ukrainians and other foreign nationals.
In 2015, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a nonprofit organization, published what it said was a social media post in which the European businessman appeared to pose with, and praise, Igor Girkin, a former Russian intelligence officer who helped Moscow annex Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula….
Mr. Girkin went on to lead pro-Russia separatist militias in eastern Ukraine, and in 2022 a court in the Netherlands found him and two others guilty of murder for their roles in the downing of a passenger jet — Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 — above eastern Ukraine in 2014.
The businessman said that the social media post in question was fake and that he had no relationship with Mr. Girkin….
Mick Mulvaney, a former congressman who served as the acting White House chief of staff and the director of the Office of Management and Budget during Mr. Trump’s first term in office, said he invited Ms. Gabbard — who by then was no longer in Congress and was supporting Mr. Trump’s campaign — to attend the July meeting in Vatican City.
Mr. Mulvaney said he did so because “Tulsi and I are friends” who served together in the House, and because he knew of her interest in foreign policy.
At the time, Mr. Mulvaney was on the advisory board of the foundation that organized the meeting, which, he said, took place under the auspices of Pope Francis’ second-in-command and chief diplomat, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
Mr. Mulvaney said he had attended some of the foundation’s previous meetings at the Vatican, including one held there in April 2024….
After that meeting, Jan Figel, one of the foundation’s other advisory board members, was quoted in a newspaper article as saying that the group had brought together representatives of the United States and Russia with the goal of improving relations between them and fostering talks to stop the war in Ukraine.
A spokesman for the Vatican confirmed that the foundation’s meeting in July took place at Casina Pio IV, a 16th-century building in Vatican City.
Before attending, Mr. Mulvaney said he asked the European businessman and other organizers “the specific question: Is anybody coming who is sanctioned? And they absolutely assured me the answer was absolutely not.”
Mr. Mulvaney said he also reiterated to them that he and Ms. Gabbard would not be interested in “discussing any specific plans for Ukraine, and we did not.”
Some Russian nationals attended the July meeting, Mr. Mulvaney said. But he said he did not remember their names and added, “It wasn’t like we were meeting with Putin’s inner circle.”
The European businessman and Mr. Figel declined to comment on who attended the meeting, citing confidentiality agreements with participants….
read … Tulsi Gabbard Briefly Subject to Special Scrutiny Last Year After Vatican Meeting - The New York Times
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BACKGROUND:
LAWMAKERS COME TO THE DEFENSE OF TULSI GABBARD
News Release from Office of Rep Gene Ward, August 11, 2024
HONOLULU, HI— Hawaii lawmakers have sent the following letter to The Honorable David P. Pekoske, Director of the Transportation Security Administration, regarding the enrollment of Tulsi Gabbard in the TSA's Quiet Skies Program, a suspected terrorist watchlist.
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August 11, 2024
The Honorable David P. Pekoske
Director, Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
Washington, D.C.
Aloha Director Pekoske,
It has rather shockingly come to our attention that your agency has put one our former Hawaii State House colleagues, one of Hawaii's "favorite daughters", former Congresswoman, former Presidential Candidate, and combat veteran on your TSA terrorist watch list!
We understand that you are harassing her with your Air Marshalls from flight to flight including her husband.
Sir, please remember this is the United States of America and you have not even stated why such a dastardly label has been attached to and besmirched her good name.
As members of the Hawaii State House of Representatives listed below, we strongly urge you to immediately withdraw her name from the Quiet Skies program and/or provide full public transparency of the TSA's reasons for maligning her name and reputation.
How can your Agency assume you have the power to put a Congresswoman on your Terrorist Watch List and not explain yourself?
The people of Hawaii love Tulsi and your actions have offended us for your attempt to ruin her reputation without explanation. Again, as leaders in the State of Hawaii, we remind you that this is not China or Russia and our government is not to overstep the boundaries that have been set by our US Constitution nor should ever attempt to weaponize its regulatory powers.
You have embarrassed the State of Hawaii in our eyes, and we plead with you to clarify this without hesitation.
Sincerely,
Representative Gene Ward Minority Policy Leader State House District 18
Representative Diamond Garcia Minority Floor Leader State House District 42
Representative David Alcos Assistant Minority Leader State House District 41
Representative Elijah Pierick Assistant Minority Floor Leader State House District 39
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KITV: Hawaii's Tulsi Gabbard added to TSA terror watchlist | News | kitv.com
SA: Gabbard cites ‘political retaliation’ for her addition to TSA watch list