U.S. Rep. Randy Fine, (R-FL), appeared on NewsNation in an interview with Blake Burman, where he commented on what he called mixed messaging from former President Donald Trump in response to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s statement disputing Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Burman said he heard Gabbard testify that “the intelligence community continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and the supreme leader has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.”
However, Burman pointed to President Trump’s recent statements claiming that Iran is nearing the completion of its nuclear weapons program.
“I think you said she testified that in March we are not in March. We are in June. And one of the things that Israel and others have said forever is that if they chose to try to implement it, they could do it fairly quickly. I suspect that is what has changed between March and now.” said Fine in response to Burman’s question on Trump’s recent statements. “I think what has changed over a three plus month period is they may have chosen to go into hyperdrive. A statement in March and a statement at the end of June are very different things.”
In March, Gabbard testified on Capitol Hill that the U.S. "continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003."
Despite this, President Trump has claimed that Gabbard was "wrong" when she testified in March and dismissed his intelligence community's public assessment of Iran on Friday.
Trump remains convinced that Iran could quickly build a nuclear weapon and believes disabling its most secure nuclear site would sharply reduce that risk.
The White House says the president will decide whether to join Israel in its strikes on Iran within the next two weeks.
