The White House kept Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard out of planning meetings for months as it worked on efforts to remove Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter. They said officials were unsure she would back the plan because she had earlier spoken against using military force in Venezuela.
Her absence from these meetings became so obvious that some of the staff from White House joked that “DNI” meant “Do Not Invite”, the anonymous sources told Bloomberg. The report further said that a White House official denied of making any such joke.
Why did Trump keep Gabbard out of Venezuela talks?
According the a Wall Street Journal report, Trump isn’t particularly close to Gabbard and wanted to keep the Venezuela operation known to as few people as possible, a senior administration official informed. Because of this, the official explained, Gabbard was not included and was not seen as someone who needed to be briefed.
Another administration official said Gabbard’s office still played a role by providing intelligence assessments that helped the mission from an analytical point of view.
The WSJ report citing two people familiar with the matter said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was among those senior officials who wanted Gabbard to stay out of the discussions.
Responding to this, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said Gabbard, Rubio and the rest of Trump’s team have been working closely together to carry out the administration’s agenda. He dismissed suggestions of internal rifts, calling them false and misleading, the report added.
‘We kept it very tight’: Vance denies claims
The decision points to the growing isolation of Tulsi Gabbard during her unsettled time as director of national intelligence. The WSJ report states that she has struggled to gain access to Trump’s closest advisers and to shape key policy decisions. Her standing with Trump has gone up and down, while he has increasingly turned to CIA Director John Ratcliffe for major intelligence briefings.
Responding to questions about why Gabbard was not part of the Venezuela planning, Vice President JD Vance rejected claims that she was sidelined. He said the discussions were deliberately limited to a small group of senior cabinet-level officials and other top government figures.
Tulsi Gabbard had initially stayed quiet about the Venezuela operation and spoke publicly only three days later. In her post on X, Gabbard said that Trump had promised to protect US borders and take action against drug gangs, traffickers and narco-terrorism. She praised the armed forces and intelligence teams for successfully carrying out the president’s orders through Operation Absolute Resolve and for delivering on that promise.