MSNBC host Ayman Mohyeldin was forced to quickly intervene Sunday evening after a guest falsely claimed that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was a “Russian agent.” The remark came during a discussion with Danielle Moodie-Mills, host of the “Woke AF” podcast, as she and Mohyeldin talked about the recent nomination of former Green Beret Joe Kent to lead the National Counterterrorism Center.
The accusation echoed a 2019 claim by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who suggested Gabbard was being “groomed” by Russia to run as a third-party candidate—an assertion made without supporting evidence. “I really hope that alternate universe me is really enjoying, like, a life that is nicer than where we are right now in this hellhole. You know, why are we shocked? She’s — you know, we learned that she was a Russian agent. They celebrated her, you know. So why do we think that?” Moodie-Mills said.
That prompted Mohyeldin to quickly ask, “We learned that she was a Russian agent?” Moodie-Mills responded, “Yes,” leading Mohyeldin to press further: “Where did we learn that?” Moodie-Mills said, “From Russia. We had it mentioned by Hillary Clinton during her debate. Like, should we look into Tulsi Gabbard?” with Mohyeldin cutting in with, “Unproven.”
“Unproven. Okay, okay,” Moodie-Mills said, before Mohyeldin quickly added, “Unproven. Allegation? No, I’m serious. I mean, ‘agent’ is a very strong word, of a foreign state.” Moodie-Mills then continued to try to make her case in a sideways manner, but essentially still calling Gabbard a Russian asset before also alluding to the same for former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and President Donald Trump.
“Very strong allegations. And I don’t know anybody else that gets celebrated on Russian television other than, I don’t know, Tucker Carlson. Right? Right. And Donald Trump. Right?” Moodie-Mills said. “So, people who don’t have allegations about them don’t get celebrated in this way. But why are we surprised that she would bring in a conspiracy theorist to lead one of the most important jobs and agencies?” Moodie-Mills continued. “But I — you know, so it a shock? No, it’s not. It’s just — it continues to make America dangerous to the world.”
Gabbard and the former first lady have feuded over foreign policy since 2019, when Gabbard launched a campaign for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 presidential election. In March, several hosts on the left-leaning network were forced to issue corrections after The Associated Press retracted a story that falsely claimed Gabbard had described Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin as “very good friends.”
MSNBC hosts and guests have frequently promoted the narrative that Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with the Russian government to defeat Hillary Clinton. The network regularly featured then-Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California, who repeatedly made unverified claims about alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. According to the Army Times, Gabbard, who previously deployed to Iraq with the Hawaii National Guard, currently serves in a Civil Affairs unit with the Army Reserve.