Tulsi Gabbard officially endorses Trump: "As Americans, we must stand together to reject this anti-freedom"

Former Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard officially endorsed Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race against Vice President Kamala Harris.

"We as Americans must stand together to reject this anti-freedom culture of political retaliation and abuse of power. We can't allow our country to be destroyed by politicians who will put their own power ahead of the interests of the American people, our freedom, and our future," Gabbard said during the National Guard conference in Detroit on Monday.

Gabbard, formerly registered with the Democratic Party, disaffiliated in 2022, remaining an independent after accusing the blue party of being an "elitist cabal of warmongers." Since then, the former congresswoman has been a harsh critic of Democrats in general and the Biden-Harris administration in particular, earning significant support in the conservative and Republican worlds.

"I am proud to stand here before you today, whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or an Independent," the independent said Monday. "If you love our country, as I do, if you cherish peace and freedom as we do, I invite you to join me in doing all that we can to save our country and elect President Donald J. Trump and send him back to the White House to do the tough work of saving our country and serving the people."

Gabbard's endorsement comes at a key moment in the election campaign, after former Democrat and now Independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also endorsed Trump after announcing his official withdrawal from the race.

Like Gabbard, RFK denounced the Democratic Party for, first, waging a legal battle against him and organizing a "fake primary," making Biden win unopposed to then get him out of the way to hand the nomination to Vice President Harris.

Trump recently recruited Gabbard to advise him in his Sept. 10 debate with Vice President Harris at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

Trump's call for Gabbard is not coincidental. In 2019, the former Democratic congresswoman launched herself as a presidential pre-candidate. During one of the Democratic primary debates, she harshly criticized Harris for jailing hundreds of Californians for marijuana-related crimes while openly discussing her own use of the drug.

"She put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana," Gabbard said of Harris at the time, in an intervention that, to this day, remains viral.