Democrat Rages at Gabbard, Ratcliffe for Standing by Belief That Only Trump Can Determine ‘Imminent Threats’: ‘Why Do You Even Have a Job?’

Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) ripped into Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA chief John Ratcliffe on Thursday for standing by the claim that President Donald Trump is the only person who can determine an “imminent threat,” questioning why they even have their jobs.

The testy moment came as Gomez questioned Gabbard, who appeared before the House Select Committee on Intelligence, on how far away Iran was from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

“Were they weeks away of achieving a nuclear weapon? Yes or no?” Gomez asked.

Gabbard, a former Democrat, sidestepped the question, telling Gomez that “this is a serious matter, and you’ve made some very serious mischaracterizations here.”

Gomez pressed on, repeating, “Were they weeks away? Yes or no?”

When Gabbard kept explaining with words that were not yes or no, Gomez brought up her claim on Wednesday that Trump is the one who decides what is and is not an imminent threat.

“Do you stand by that statement?” Gomez asked.

When Gabbard said, “Yes, I do,” Gomez posed the same question to Ratcliffe.

“The president as commander in chief gets to make a decision about what’s an imminent threat,” the CIA director replied.

Fuming, Gomez shot back by asking, “Why do you guys even have a job? Like why do you even advise him?”

Read the exchange below:

REP. JIMMY GOMEZ: I just want to kind of get a sense. Were they weeks away of achieving a nuclear weapon? Yes or no?

TULSI GABBARD: Congressman, this is a serious matter, and you’ve made some very serious mischaracterizations here.

GOMEZ: Yes or no? Were they weeks away? Yes or no?

GABBARD: And so it would be a disservice to you and the American people with a mere yes or no.

GOMEZ: Reclaiming my time. Reclaiming my time. Were they weeks away or not? The American people need to know if this was an imminent threat or not. If they were weeks away or not. None of this dodging. Were they an imminent threat? Yesterday, you said that only the president, the only person who can determine what is an imminent threat is the president of the United States. Do you stand by that statement?

GABBARD: Yes, I do.

GOMEZ: Director Ratcliffe, do you agree with that assessment, that the president is the only person that can determine if something is an imminent threat or not?

JOHN RATCLIFFE: The president as commander in chief gets to make a decision about what’s an imminent threat. The intelligence community-

GOMEZ: So no. Reclaim my time! Reclaim my time! Reclaim my time!

[Crosstalk]

GOMEZ:  The reason why, is that if the president can determine and ignore what you’re doing, why do you guys even have a job? Like why do you even advise him? So you’re saying tomorrow, the president of the United States can say China is an imminent threat and he can take — no matter what the intelligence says — take his own action. OK, let’s go on.

Watch above via C-SPAN.

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