Democrats and Republicans in Congress were worried that Gabbard might leak information to Syria
In the spring of 2018, congressional staffers were anxious ahead of a House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting.
A Syrian defector who had risked his life to expose atrocities committed by the Assad regime was due to appear behind closed doors at a private briefing for lawmakers.
No cameras would be present, but congressional aides worried about one committee member, Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who had repeatedly defended the Syrian regime and even met its leader, Bashar al-Assad, in an unannounced trip in 2017.
The aides were concerned Gabbard might leak information about the defector, who had hidden his identity out of fear of reprisals from the Assad regime. Some worried that she might even reveal his identity to someone associated with the Syrian government, which at that point had killed hundreds of thousands of its own citizens, according to human rights groups.
Both Democratic and Republican aides told the Syrians accompanying the defector, known as “Caesar,” to ensure that he covered his face before Gabbard entered the room — just in case.
“It was Democratic and Republican staffers on the committee coordinating with me to figure out how do we make sure that Tulsi doesn’t take a photograph of Caesar, or learn his real name, or record his voice,” said Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force who helped organize Caesar’s appearance and translated for the session.
In the past, Caesar had spoken privately to members of Congress without his face covered when Gabbard was not present. But not at the special briefing in the summer of 2018.
“There were bipartisan concerns for Caesar’s safety,” a former staffer who was involved in the discussions and asked not to be named. “Most specifically, because then congresswoman Gabbard had earlier returned from Damascus and met with Assad,” the former staffer told NBC News.
The episode reflects the deep misgivings that many lawmakers, intelligence officials and human rights activists have harbored for years about Gabbard.
Now, President-elect Donald Trump has nominated the former lawmaker to serve as the country’s highest-ranking intelligence official. If confirmed, Gabbard would have access to a trove of top secret material and have the final word on what spy agencies share with the president in regular intelligence briefings. [Continue reading…]