Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard testifies before a U.S. House Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard appears to have heard President Donald Trump's "clarion call," and it cost her dearly, according to one analyst.
During a hearing before the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday, Gabbard ducked and dodged her way around a question about whether Iran posed an "imminent threat" to the U.S. from Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA). Instead, Gabbard insisted that "it would be a disservice to the American people to answer with a mere yes or no."
Those comments appeared to contradict Gabbard's statements from her hearing in the Senate on Wednesday, progressive YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen pointed out on a new episode of his eponymous podcast.
Cohen noted that it was a "bizarre" appearance for Gabbard, which could expose her to charges of lying to Congress and to the scorn of the president.
"So, apparently, it would be a disservice to tell the truth to the American people," Cohen said skeptically. "The reason that she's doing this is simple. If she answered that question honestly, which she's required by law to do during this sworn testimony, she would undermine Trump, who himself has unilaterally decided that there was an imminent threat. Why? Because he needed some fleeting rationale to justify this war."
"She'll do anything she can to avoid actually answering the question because she knows that the golden rule here is never ever to undermine the god king," he continued. "And because he's issued his clarion call, now they have to treat that clarion call as gospel."