The House GOP released the opening salvo from its new select committee on the weaponization of the DOJ and FBI. Former Democrat congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard was on hand as one of the witnesses for the hearing, and she took the opportunity to lay out how the corrupt relationship between Big Tech and the federal government targeted her.

At one point, she shared an account of a woman approaching her during her 2020 presidential campaign, asking whether she was working for Vladimir Putin. Those accusations were first uttered by Hillary Clinton, who accused Gabbard of being “groomed by Putin.” Years later, Sen. Mitt Romney would make nearly the same accusation, claiming that Gabbard was spreading “treasonous lies” in response to some of her commentary on the conflict in Ukraine.

During the aforementioned hearing, Gabbard was finally given an official perch from which to respond, and she absolutely ripped Romney apart.

Tulsi Gabbard calls out Mitt Romney for accusing her of treason. pic.twitter.com/IKHelwm0ki

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 9, 2023

More recently, US senator Mitt Romney accused me of treason, a crime that is punishable by death under our laws. I challenged him to back this serious allegation up with evidence. What was this based on? There was no response, no explanation, no evidence, and certainly no apology.

Now, these accusations are often shrugged off as “well hey, it’s politics, people say things about each other all the time.” But that may be easy for some of you to say, but for somebody who wears the uniform, this is serious, and it’s serious not only to me but to my fellow servicemembers and veterans, every one of us making a decision at some point in our lives to raise our right hand, prepared and volunteering to lay our life down for this country.

What does that mean in reality? It means that before every deployment, we have to make peace in our own hearts with the possibility that we may not come home. It means writing letters to our loved ones, trying to find the words (end of clip).

I don’t care what one may think of Gabbard’s foreign policy views, what Romney did was disgusting and childish. It showed that some US senators apparently have a level of maturity that my seven-year-old would surpass. It is not “treasonous” for an American citizen to opine about a foreign war that doesn’t even directly involve the United States. To use that kind of language was ridiculous and defamatory, even if Gabbard being a public figure would make pursuing a lawsuit pointless.

The word “treason” is often bastardized by figures on both sides, but it has an actual definition. It means to provide aid and comfort to an enemy nation that the United States is at war with. Making a comment about the existence of bio-labs (which is what most assume Romney was referencing) is not offering aid and comfort, and last I checked, the United States is not at war with Russia.

Romney’s goal was clear: He wanted to quell Gabbard’s speech by accusing her of a crime punishable by death. Of course, Gabbard served and continues to serve in the military. Romney has never worn the uniform. That’s not to say you must have served to criticize someone who has, but it is to say that you probably shouldn’t be accusing someone who put their money where their mouth is of treason. You’d think a US senator could have that basic level of decency.

The senator from Utah is a big talker when he’s facing right-leaning ideological opponents (a place Gabbard apparently resides now, at least partially). He’ll cause a scene over George Santos or trash Tulsi Gabbard, but he’s nowhere to be found when Republicans need a champion to stand up to the harmful excesses of the left. In other words, Romney is the worst kind of politician. He’s a spineless former Democrat who seeks affirmation from the mainstream media over accomplishing anything substantial for the party he claims to represent. I’d take one Tulsi Gabbard over 10 Mitt Romneys.