Former representative and Democratic primary contender Tulsi Gabbard was described in friendly terms by those appearing on a Russian state television show discussing President Joe Biden's response to the war in Ukraine.
Vladimir Solovyov, who hosts the show Vecher (Evening) on Russia's Channel One played a clip of her on Fox News giving her view of Biden's comment on Sunday in Warsaw that Vladimir Putin "cannot stay in power." Newsweek has contacted Gabbard for comment. She has previously rejected accusations of making comments seen as favoring Russia.
The White House walked back Biden's comment, saying that the U.S. was not calling for regime change, but that the Russian leader "cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region."
However, Gabbard told Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson on Monday that Biden's words showed U.S. intent and the Russian program, which is a bullhorn for Kremlin propaganda, played part of her interview on its show on Wednesday.
Solovyov told the panelists on his show that he was going to show a clip of Monday's interview with "our girlfriend Tulsi."
As the clip of Gabbard speaking played, the host translated into Russian the comments he said she was making about Biden.
On Biden's comment that Putin "cannot stay in power," these included, "it was not a gaffe at all," and that Biden, "just said out loud what the aims and objectives of his administration's policies are."
These included "regime change in Russia, to get Putin out of power" through the "the primary weapons of economic warfare," in reference to the sanctions the U.S. has imposed on Russia since the start of the invasion.
After the clip ended, one of the panelists, journalist Vitaly Tretyakov, quipped amid the crosstalk "Is she some sort of Russian agent?" prompting Solovyov to joke "yes."
Video of the exchange—first shared by Russian media watcher and Daily Beast journalist, Julia Davis—had been viewed more than 360,000 times as of Thursday morning.
Gabbard, a former congresswoman for Hawaii has been accused of giving a pro-Russian slant to the war in Ukraine. She told Fox News last month that the conflict could have been avoided if NATO had acknowledged Russia's "legitimate security concerns" regarding Ukraine joining the alliance.
Earlier in March she was accused of lending credibility to Russian propaganda that Ukraine was housing labs funded by the U.S. military that are developing chemical or biological weapons.
Russia's defense ministry said that Ukraine had been working on biolabs with U.S. help in a claim that sparked alarm in the international community because of fears that it was being used as a pretext for Moscow resorting to biological and chemical weapons.
However, Gabbard later clarified that she did not believe there are biological weapons labs or biological weapons in Ukraine but was expressing concern about labs researching pathogens in a warzone.
Carlson, meanwhile, has been repeatedly featured on Russian state television by Kremlin propagandists such as Solovyov, who have focused on his defenses of Russia and criticisms of the U.S., NATO and Ukraine.
About the writer
Brendan Cole is a Newsweek Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. His focus is Russia and Ukraine, in particular ... Read more