Nikki Haley calls Tulsi Gabbard a 'Russian sympathizer' in scorched-earth rant against Trump's Cabinet pick

Nikki Haley blasted President-elect Donald Trump's pick for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. 

She accused the former Democratic congresswoman turned Trump supporter of spreading Russian propaganda and called her a 'Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer.'

The former South Carolina GOP governor gave her scathing review of the 78-year-old president-elect's nominations for his Cabinet on her SiriusXM radio show 'Nikki Haley Live.' 

'Everybody now loves that she is saying she's now a Republican, but I have always said "let's look at what they've said, what their actions are,"' Haley said of Gabbard.

Haley slammed the controversial nominee for going to Syria in 2017 to meet with dictator Bashar al-Assad for what Haley called a 'photo op' while he carried out atrocities against his own people. 

Haley called it disgusting that Gabbard would question if it was the Syrian leader who was behind the chemical attacks in his country. She recalled giving a speech at the United Nations during Trump's first term about the attacks on children. 

'For her to say that Assad with not behind that, literally everything she said about that were Russian talking points, every bit of that,' Haley said. 'That was Russia propaganda.'

She also blasted Gabbard for blaming NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine more than two years ago.

'The Russians and the Chinese echoed her talking points and her interviews on Russian and Chinese television,' Haley said. 

Haley pointed out Gabbard opposed the end of the Iran Nuclear Deal and sanctions against Iran.

She accused her of wanting to limit Trump's powers to take action against the Middle East country while in Congress and pushing for defense budget cuts.

The Director of National Intelligence is the president's top intelligence adviser and has authority over the U.S. spy budget and say in which U.S. secrets are declassified.

'This is a job for an honest broker without any pronounced policy biases,' Haley declared. 

'She's defended Russia. She's defended Syria. She's defended Iran, and she's defended China,' Haley said.

'Now she has not denounced any of these views. None of them. She hasn't taken one of them back,' the former UN ambassador continued in her blistering takedown of Gabbard. 

Haley said DNI is not a place for a 'Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer.' 

'Are we comfortable with someone like that at the top of our national security agencies?' 

Haley's pushback on Gabbard puts her on the same page for once as progressives like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who also warned nominating the former Hawaii Congresswoman for the role is dangerous.

But Gabbard was not the only Trump nominee Haley had 'major issues' with. 

The one-time GOP presidential candidate also took aim at Trump naming Robert Kennedy Jr. his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, but she did not even focus on his controversial anti-vaccine stance.

Haley blasted RJK Jr. as a 'liberal Democrat' and claimed he would oversee 25 percent of the federal budget while noting a common criticism that he has no background in healthcare. 

Haley pointed out in the past RFK Jr. endorsed presidential candidates including Al Gore, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. 

 'He said just this past year that he and Trump's positions "could not be further apart,"' Haley said.

She also called him 'strongly pro-choice' and claimed he wants more oversight on pharma. 

'I understand he wants to raise awareness on chemicals in foods and vaccinations, but then let him be a health adviser,' she argued.

'Why are we putting someone that is so ideologically opposed to Donald Trump's views and Republicans' views, why do we want to do that?' she asked.

Haley warned 'we don't know when he is given reins to an agency what decisions he's going to make behind the scenes, and the Senate needs to ask the hard questions to him.'

The former governor also noted there will be a lot of issues with getting Trump's pick for Attorney General Matt Gaetz confirmed.

It comes after the former Florida congressman faced a House Ethics Committee investigation into alleged sexual misconduct with a minor and illicit drug use. A fight is brewing over whether it will release its findings.

'The AG is the chief law enforcement officer,' she said.  'He has the right to defend himself, but it's hard to start a confirmation when you have allegations of illicit drug use and sex parties with minors.'

She said the same goes for Trump's defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth who is  accused of sexual assault. 

'He's going to have to answer to that,' she said.