Trump contested intelligence assessments relayed earlier this year by his spy chief that Tehran was not building a nuclear weapon when he spoke with reporters at an airport in Morristown, New Jersey.
In March, Gabbard testified to Congress that the U.S. intelligence community continued to believe that Tehran was not building a nuclear weapon. “The (intelligence community) continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon,“ she said.
She said the media has taken her March testimony “out of context” and was trying to “manufacture division.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has justified a week of airstrikes on Iranian nuclear and military targets by saying Tehran was on the verge of having a warhead.
In March, Gabbard also described Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile as unprecedented for a state without such weapons and said the government was watching the situation closely. She also said Iran had started discussing nuclear weapons in public, “emboldening nuclear weapons advocates within Iran’s decision-making apparatus.”
David Albright, a former UN nuclear inspector, questioned the revised view offered by Gabbard on Friday, estimating it would take Iran at least six months to produce a crude nuclear “device” that could not be delivered by a missile.
Trump has frequently disavowed the findings of U.S. intelligence agencies, which he and his supporters have charged - without providing proof - are part of a “deep state” cabal of U.S. officials opposed to his presidency.
The Republican president repeatedly clashed with U.S. spy agencies during his first term, including over an assessment that Moscow worked to sway the 2016 presidential vote in his favor and his acceptance of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denials. (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington; Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay; Editing by Rod Nickel, David Gregorio and Tom Hogue)
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