EXCLUSIVE: Top Democrats on House Intel Committee falsely claim that GOP's anti-DEI policies in the intelligence community stem from "racial animus"
On the day Charlie Kirk was assassinated, top Democrats falsely claimed behind closed doors that the GOP's anti-DEI push is motivated by "racial animus."
During a closed-door hearing Democrats on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence falsely claimed that the Trump administration’s efforts to root out DEI in the intelligence community (IC) are rooted in “racial animus.”
The lead offender, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D., Texas), claimed on the same day that Charlie Kirk was assassinated that he “think[s] that this attack on DEI is borne of racial animus, it is born of racial animus.”
At issue is the Intel Committee Republicans’ moves to codify the Trump administration’s executive order that would, Rep. Trent Kelly (R., Miss.) “to terminate all DEI programs, mandates, policies, preferences and activities in the Federal Government. Therefore, this committee is taking action where it can codify this EO in statute, and that includes repealing reports like this.”
“An executive order can easily be rescinded in the future,” Kelly cautioned. “By repealing DEI activities and reports in law, we are proofing for future administrations being able to easily stand these functions back up.”
Kelly also noted that the Democrats’ request is impractical, in part because the department at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) needed to do the work “no longer exists.”
At ODNI, Tulsi Gabbard, the agency’s director, prioritized eliminating DEI in the agency starting from her first day in office. On her hundredth day as DNI Director, Gabbard — a former House Democrat herself — boasted about “end[ing] woke DEI polices, sav[ing] millions of taxpayer dollars, revok[ing] security clearances, refer[ring] leaks to ensure apolitical intelligence collection and analysis.”
“It is also worth noting that the ODNI component tasked with compiling this report, the IC Human Capital Office, no longer exists,” Kelly said, adding that he doesn’t “believe taxpayer dollars should be spent on annual DEI reports. The American people spoke clearly in the last election that they want to move forward from the destructive hyper focus on identity politics.”
“The right people with the right skill should be hired regardless of their race, color, gender or any other class of identity,” he said.
While Rep. Jim Himes (D., Conn.) — the top Democrat on the committee — acknowledged that “it is not a mystery to anybody where the administration and where the majority party has gone on DEI [sic],” he too floated that the GOP’s efforts to abolish DEI in the IC may be motivated at least in part by racial animus.
“Maybe some of it is racial animus,” Himes said, while then saying that “the majority’s strongest argument against DEI is in favor of meritocraсу.”