Tulsi Gabbard's Guru
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Who is Tulsi Gabbard and why is her DNI tenure described as embattled?
Hey, you're listening to the On the Media Midweek podcast. I'm Michael Loewinger. This week, the Atlantic's Shane Harris had some breaking news. It turns out that the rank-and-file employees at the CIA are increasingly concerned that the objectivity of the agency is being undermined by political influence. The story cites an annual survey in which respondents pointed specifically to the actions of former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. During her time in office, Gabbard fired two career officers who found that Venezuela was not directing the criminal gang Tren de Aragua. She also revoked the security clearances of dozens of national security officers, some of whom had worked on the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
And then, at the end of June, Tulsi Gabbard resigned. As director of national intelligence, Gabbard presided over the nation's top intelligence agencies, including the CIA, the NSA, and the intelligence branch of the FBI. Her tenure was brief but embattled. In addition to advising the president on things like Iran's nuclear capabilities, Gabbard regularly released tranches of declassified documents in reports with headlines like, New evidence uncovers Obama-directed creation of false intelligence report used to launch years-long coup to undermine President Trump and the American people.
On my final day as Director of National Intelligence, I'm releasing never-before-seen communications and documents that expose exactly how Fauci worked with politicized career leadership in the intelligence community to suppress the truth about his actions, the virus's lab leak origins, and his role in directing U.S. funding for this dangerous research that caused immeasurable harm and countless lost lives.
The journalist Denby Fawcett, who has covered Tulsi Gabbard's political career for over 20 years, wrote in 2019 that, quote, But last month, a remarkable story from Washington Post reporter John Swain brought us one step closer to understanding the enigma that is Tulsi Gabbard. His investigation helps explain why, for instance, Gabbard has shapeshifted over the years from liberal Democrat to Bernie Sanders ally to Trump insider. Why she's flip-flopped on same-sex marriage and war with Iran. As Swain uncovered, Gabbard's public persona may have been shaped and reshaped in part by a mysterious guru and his followers. John, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. Tell us about how you got interested in this wild story.
I'd always been interested in Tulsi Gabbard because she has been such an unusual political figure. She's gone from being a socially conservative Democrat to a liberal Democrat and a Bernie Sanders ally to eventually being a MAGA Republican and Donald Trump appointee. And I'd been interested in some stories over the years in magazines like the New Yorker and New York Magazine and in some Hawaii publications. about this faith group that she grew up in, the Science of Identity Foundation, but none of them had really gotten to the bottom of whether it mattered and whether Chris Butler, the founder, had any influence on her politics. She had always said he was her spiritual teacher, her guru, but there just seemed to be this lingering question of what exactly was their relationship.
And so when she was nominated by Trump to be director of national intelligence, I thought I'd give it a go.
And to be clear, Tulsi Gabbard has definitively rejected any claims that Chris Butler has had any influence on her politics. She had this exchange with one of your Washington Post colleagues back in 2019.
For clarity purposes, Chris Butler, how would you describe? He's one of my spiritual teachers. One of your spiritual teachers. What does that mean? One who provides spiritual guidance. Has he been a mentor politically or is it just spiritually?
No, not at all. Talk about the Science of Identity Foundation and Chris Butler. What are their beliefs?
Chris Butler, in the late 60s, dropped out of the University of Hawaii and fell in with the Hare Krishna movement, which was just then beginning.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
Who is Tulsi Gabbard and why is her DNI tenure described as embattled?
0:00–7:44
2
What is the Science of Identity Foundation and who is guru Chris Butler?
7:44–14:02
3
Why do former members call Chris Butler a cult leader?
14:02–24:04
4
How did reporter Jon Swaine discover the Nine Isles email trove?
24:04–28:45
5
What did the decrypted memos instruct Tulsi Gabbard to do in Congress?
28:45–34:40