Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) isn’t having any of President Donald Trump’s game of patty-cake with Saudi Arabia.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Gabbard appeared to take aim at a Trump press release that lauded Saudi Arabia for its “fight against Radical Islamic Terrorism” and appeared to signal that the White House would take no more action in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In fact, the president essentially absolved Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for any role in that killing.
“Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event ― maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” Trump wrote in his Tuesday message.
The full release (which you can read here) came out under the heading “America First!”
Gabbard, a longtime critic of Saudi Arabia and ongoing U.S. support of that country, didn’t pull any punches in her response. On Twitter, she called the president “Saudi Arabia’s bitch.”
Her office confirmed to reporters that the congresswoman wrote the tweet and that her account was not hacked.
Gabbard herself has been criticized for her ties to far-right leaders and her fixation on “radical Islam.” Last year, she raised eyebrows when she revealed that she’d met with Syrian President Bashar Assad without telling top Democrats.
Trump hasn’t yet responded to her tweet.
But in his release, he celebrated Saudi Arabia as a “great ally.”
“They have been a great ally in our very important fight against Iran,” Trump wrote. “The United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region.”