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← Gabbard, March 2025

Gabbard's June Reversal: From "Not Building" to "Resounding Success"

Evidence rating: CONFIRMED for her own posts and statements. STRONG for her exclusion from the June 8 meeting, reported by CNN and Politico.

In March 2025 the Director of National Intelligence said Iran was not building a bomb. By late June she was calling the bombing of Iran "a resounding success." The two weeks in between show what happens to an intelligence judgment when a war is under way.

Day by day​

  • June 8. Gabbard was absent from a Camp David meeting where, according to CNN and Politico, Trump discussed Israel's plans to attack Iran with Defense Secretary Hegseth, Secretary of State Rubio and CIA Director Ratcliffe (as summarized by @SMO_VZ, June 20, 2025).
  • June 10. Gabbard posted a video warning that "political elite and warmongers" were pushing the world toward "nuclear annihilation." According to the same reporting, Trump "doesn't like it when people are off message" (same post). One commentator later wrote that Trump "reportedly screamed at Gabbard" over the video and called for her firing "over her opposition to the Iran strikes" (Laura Loomer, March 27, 2026).
  • June 13. Israel attacked Iran.
  • June 17. Asked about her March testimony, Trump: "I don't care what she said" (Axios).
  • June 18. Vice President Vance defended her: "Tulsi Gabbard is a veteran, a patriot, a loyal supporter..." and "essential member" of the team (as posted by Katie Pavlich).
  • June 20. A reporter asked Trump: "Your Intelligence Community has said they have no evidence that they are at this point." Trump: "Well then my Intelligence Community is wrong" (FactCheck.org). The same day Gabbard posted that "the dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context," and that Iran could produce a weapon "within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the assembly" (Gabbard on X). The post was seen about 16.5 million times. She told the BBC: "President Trump has been clear that can't happen, and I agree" (BBC, June 21, 2025).
  • June 22. The United States bombed Iran.
  • June 25. In the White House "obliterated" release: "The operation was a resounding success... obliterating key Iranian capabilities needed to quickly assemble a nuclear weapon" (whitehouse.gov).

Did she change her assessment?​

Her office said no. An ODNI official told FactCheck.org the statements were "congruent," and said: "Just because Iran is not building a nuclear weapon right now, doesn't mean they aren't 'very close'" (FactCheck.org). Gabbard told CNN: "Unfortunately too many people in the media don't care to actually read what I said."

That is the key. March: Iran is not building a weapon, and its leader has not authorized one. June: Iran could build one if it decided to. The first is a statement about intent. The second is a statement about capability. The intelligence judgment on intent never changed. What changed is that the government stopped talking about intent, and the war was sold on capability. See Breakout Numbers.

March 2026: the same line, a second war​

On March 18, 2026, less than three weeks into the second US-Israeli war on Iran, Gabbard told the Senate Intelligence Committee: "As a result of Operation Midnight Hammer, Iran's nuclear enrichment program was obliterated. There has been no efforts since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability." Asked if Iran posed an imminent threat, she said "the only person who can determine what is and is not an imminent threat is the president" (TIME, March 18, 2026). Posts noted differences between her prepared and her oral testimony that day (as noted in the research captures). The 2026 assessment said Iran was "intending to try to recover from the devastation of its nuclear infrastructure" (same).

If the program was obliterated and not being rebuilt, the nuclear program was not the reason for the second war. See After the Ceasefire.

Status: Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump, JD Vance and Laura Loomer are alive, as far as these sources show.

Sources​

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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