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President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday he’s selected former Democratic congresswoman turned Trump supporter Tulsi Gabbard as his pick to be director of national intelligence.The selection of Gabbard is sure to set off a major confirmation fight.“For over two decades, Tulsi has fought for our Country and the Freedoms of all Americans. As a former Candidate for the Democrat Presidential Nomination, she has broad support in both Parties - She is now a proud Republican!�� Trump said in a statement announcing Gabbard’s selection. “I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community, championing our Constitutional Rights, and securing Peace through Strength.”Gabbard, an Army National Guard veteran, unsuccessfully ran for president in 2020 as a Democrat but said she was leaving the Democratic Party in 2022. She campaigned with Trump and served on his transition team.She has ties to Trump allies like Steve Bannon, who said in a statement to CNN: “I brought Colonel Gabbard to meet President Elect Trump in November 2016 for a role in the Administration. It did not work out then, but now we have one of the strongest America First proponents nominated to take charge of an out of control and destructive intelligence community.”Gabbard helped Trump in his debate prep before his September debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.“If I can be helpful to President Trump in any way, it really is just sharing the experience that I had with her on that debate stage in 2020, and frankly helping to point out some ways that Kamala Harris has already shown that she’s trying to move away from her record, move away from her positions,�� Gabbard said in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”Gabbard and Harris had several notable exchanges during the 2020 Democratic primary debates, where Harris criticized Gabbard for her foreign policy views while Gabbard challenged Harris�� record on criminal justice.When Gabbard ran for president in the 2020 campaign, she touted herself as an Iraq War vet with an anti-interventionist foreign policy.The former Hawaii congresswoman has taken stances that have been at odds with US foreign policy, including meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Syria in 2017, and saying in 2019 that he was “not an enemy of the United States.”“When the opportunity arose to meet with him, I did so because I felt that it’s important that if we profess to truly care about the Syrian people, about their suffering, then we’ve got to be able to meet with anyone that we need to if there is a possibility that we can achieve peace,�� she said after her 2017 meeting.Even as a Democrat, Gabbard shared some of Trump’s isolationist instincts, supporting a withdrawal of US troops from Syria �� even as she declared during one of the Democratic primary debates that “Donald Trump is not behaving like a patriot.”When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Gabbard blamed the Biden administration and NATO for failing to acknowledge “Russia’s legitimate security concerns.”“This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns regarding Ukraine’s becoming a member of NATO, which would mean US/NATO forces right on Russia’s border,�� Gabbard wrote on X.During Gabbard’s presidential bid in the Democratic primary in 2019, Hillary Clinton suggested in an interview that the Russians were “grooming�� her to run as a third-party candidate.CNN’s Sara Murray contributed reporting.