Tulsi Gabbard: 'My government is surveilling me'
Former congresswoman and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard says she is looking over her shoulder after the Biden-Harris administration placed her on a terror watchlist following her criticism of the government.
Stalked by air marshals
On July 22nd, Gabbard publicly criticized the Biden-Harris administration, the “national security state,” and the “military-industrial complex” in a Fox News interview. The next day, according to whistleblowers, Gabbard was placed under heavy surveillance in the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Quiet Skies program.
Quiet Skies has the stated aim of keeping American travelers safe from domestic terrorists, which the TSA often defines as supporters of President Donald Trump. Gabbard, who was speculated to be on Trump’s VP shortlist, seems to have made the TSA’s list.
Whistleblowers told Air Marshal National Council (AMNC) Executive Director Sonya LaBosco that Gabbard is secretly tailed on every flight by three Federal Air Marshals, a plainclothes TSA supervisor, two explosive detection canine teams, and a transportation security specialist in explosives. LaBosco has said that at least one whistleblower is willing to go on record with documentation.
On July 25th, two days after her public criticism of the government, she boarded her first flight secretly stalked by Federal Air Marshals.
‘It clearly came from the White House’
The news drew outrage from political figures. Rep. Tim Burchett has demanded answers from the TSA, as has Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO). Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr slammed the move “as the kind of thing they did in East Germany and Russia.”
“It clearly came from the White House,” RFK said in a recent interview.
‘I will always be looking over my shoulder’
For her part, Gabbard has vowed legal action, which is being brought on her behalf by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). In an interview Sunday with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, Gabbard said her experience matches the whistleblowers’ allegations.
“In all of my travels — and I travel quite frequently — I was subjected to very in-depth screening by TSA,” she said. “By ‘in-depth’ I mean 30 to 45 minutes of going through that screening every time I would go to the airport to fly. I noticed air marshals, noticed K-9 teams. There were things that I saw and noticed that were highly unusual. When the air marshal whistleblowers came forward, the details that they disclosed very exactly matched the experiences I had been going through.”
The decorated military officer says she now lives “wondering if my government is surveilling me.”
“Forever going forward I will always be looking over my shoulder wondering if my government is surveilling me, what they’re looking for. Are they reading my emails and text messages? Listening to my phone calls?” she questioned. “Losing that sense of freedoms that every one of us Americans is guaranteed. And violating my Fourth Amendment constitutional rights.
“What they’re doing is completely unconstitutional and it has a chilling effect, both on me and my family,” she continued, adding that her husband is receiving the same treatment. “If I say this, what retaliatory measure are they going to take, how are they going to intrude on my life and my family’s life and liberty?”
