Washington, D.C., November 15, 2024
Photo: cnn.com
President Trump announced on Wednesday that he is appointing Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii who later joined the Republican Party, as his Director of National Intelligence.
Once President Trump is sworn in in January, Gabbard will be subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
Gabbard has been an outspoken critic of U.S. support for Ukraine, which she says is not the bastion of democracy that the Western media champions it as.
In particular, she has criticized President Zelensky on several occasions for his persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
On November 9, 2023, she wrote on Instagram: “Zelensky now has absolute control of Ukrainian media, outlawed opposition political parties and Ukraine’s Orthodox Church, declared martial law, and uses absolute power under martial law to cancel presidential elections.”
Speaking with Tucker Carlson in December 2022, she stated: “[President Zelensky] has shut down the biggest Ukraine [sic] Church in the country.”
Ukraine’s Parliament passed the bill on banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church 
Ukraine adopts bill 8371 on banning the Orthodox ChurchThe Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s Parliament, voted overwhelmingly today to adopt the infamous bill 8371 on the banning of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
“>on August 20 and President Zelensky signed it into law 
Zelensky signs bill on banning the Ukrainian Orthodox ChurchPresident Vladimir Zelensky of Ukraine signed Bill 8317 on banning the Orthodox Church nationwide into law on August 24, Ukrainian Independence Day.”>four days later. According to the document, court cases against individual churches and monasteries within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church can begin after 9 months from the point when it came into effect.
President Trump has also announced that he will not be inviting former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, 
Secretary Pompeo openly acknowledges U.S pressure on Churches to recognize Ukrainian schismaticsOrthoChristian has written of the U.S’s role in creating and propagandizing the OCU many times, and OCU hierarchs have even openly spoken about it at times. Pro-Constantinople and pro-schismatic hierarchs and media outlets have routinely dismissed such statements and reports as “Russian propaganda.”
“>who actively agitated in favor of the schismatic group in Ukraine and against the canonical Church, back to his administration.
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