Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s pick to become intelligence chief, fought back against what she called “smears,” declaring she is nobody’s “puppet” at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday. She told senators her opponents accuse her “of being Trump’s puppet, Putin’s puppet, Assad’s puppet, a guru’s puppet, Modi’s puppet, not recognizing the absurdity of simultaneously being the puppet of five different puppet masters.” The former Hawaii congresswoman referenced the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant illegally used to spy on the Trump campaign and the 51 intelligence community officials who vowed that the Hunter Biden laptop scandal had the hallmarks of Russian intelligence, and she claimed she was put on a secret domestic terrorist watch list after criticizing former Vice President Kamala Harris. “The American people elected Donald Trump as their president, not once, but twice, and yet, the FBI and intelligence agencies were politicized by his opponents to undermine his presidency and falsely portray him as a puppet of Putin,” she added.