The Biden administration’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) put Tulsi Gabbard, a critic of the administration, on a terror watch list.
Tulsi was once a member of the Democrat Party and ran against Biden in the 2020 primary, but has since changed her political affiliation to Independent. Notably, she voted “present” on Donald Trump’s impeachment (Ukraine edition), making her the only Democrat to not vote in favor of it.
According to a report from Matt Taibbi:
This story began two weeks ago, when the former Hawaii congresswoman returned home after a short trip abroad. In airport after airport, she and her husband Abraham Williams encountered obstacles. First on a flight from Rome to Dallas, then a connecting flight to Austin, and later on different flights for both to cities like Nashville, Orlando, and Atlanta, their boarding passes were marked with the “SSSS” designation, which stands for “Secondary Security Screening Selection.” The “Quad-S” marker is often a sign the traveler has been put on a threat list, and Gabbard and Williams were forced into extensive “random” searches lasting as long as 45 minutes.
“It happened every time I boarded,” says Gabbard. The Iraq war veteran and current Army reservist tends to pack light, but no matter.
“I’ve got a couple of blazers in there, and they’re squeezing every inch of the entire collar, every inch of the sleeves, every inch of the edging of the blazers,” she says. “They’re squeezing or padding down underwear, bras, workout clothes, every inch of every piece of clothing.” Agents unzipped the lining inside the roller board of her suitcase, patting down every inch inside the liner. Gabbard was asked to take every piece of electronics out and turn each on, including her military phone and computer.
Gabbard says she uses her military ID to get through security sometimes, but was unable to get through this time.
One TSA agent who was shocked to see someone with a military ID have a SSSS designation told her that he’d encountered supporters of Trump who had no issues traveling before but were marked SSSS since Biden took office.
Gabbard was reportedly placed on the list on July 23rd, and trios of Air Marshals began following her on flights starting July 25th. Surveillance on her was conducted on at least eight flights, with different three-Marshal teams on each flight.
The story about Gabbard was surfaced by two TSA whistleblowers, including one detailed to follow her. When Gabbard read this, she felt a shock of recognition. “When I saw that, I thought, ‘Wow, okay. So everything I was experiencing was exactly what I feared was going on,’” she says.
Gabbard is likely the highest profile person under this kind of surveillance by the Biden administration - how many others are they watching they we simply don’t know about?
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