GOP Senator Blasts Questions About Tulsi Gabbard’s Qualifications: She’s ‘Not Pete Buttigieg’
Partisan politics in Washington, D.C., apparently stops at the weight room.
Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma says he got to know Tulsi Gabbard at the gym when they both served in the House of Representatives. At the time, Mullin was still a Republican and Gabbard was a Democrat, but the respect they built for each other in the weightroom bridged the political divide.
The pair have remained close friends ever since. Mullin is now a senator and Gabbard, who joined the Republican Party in October, is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be the next director of national intelligence.
As a senator, Mullin is in a key position to help boost his friend into the position of director of national intelligence, a role that Gabbard is well-qualified to hold, Mullin says in a new video alongside Gabbard.
“You know, Tulsi has been getting unfairly tagged as someone not qualified to be the director of national intelligence, and I laugh because if you know this girl, first of all, she’s extremely intimidating. [She] used to work out with me every single morning, and she ran us into the ground,” Mullin said, recalling their days in the gym.
“When you start looking at her background, she served four terms in the United States House of Representatives – I don’t know if that’s a bragging point, but we’ll still talk about it – twenty-two years in the service, combat veteran, lieutenant colonel right now, and she’s currently over the reserve unit in Oklahoma and Missouri. I don’t know what [other] qualifications you need,” Mullin said.
“I mean, you’re not Pete Buttigieg,” Mullin said, referring to the former mayor of Southbend, Indiana, who was vaulted into heading the Department of Transportation during the Biden administration despite having no relevant past experience in a transportation-related role.
GOP Senator @MarkwayneMullin says he became friends with Tulsi Gabbard when she was a Democrat—they went to the gym every morning together
In a video, he tells her that questions about her qualifications are absurd: “I mean, you’re not Pete Buttigieg” pic.twitter.com/Qunu1Fwmjc
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) January 9, 2025
Gabbard has seen some headwinds in the Senate. The Trump transition team earlier this week accused Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee of obstructing Gabbard’s nomination.