As rumors continue to swirl about former president and current GOP primary frontrunner Donald Trump’s potential vice-presidential and cabinet picks, it has been revealed that Trump and his top advisors met with former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI).

Gabbard, an Army Reserve officer and veteran, has been mentioned by several commentators as a potential running mate for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign — with many pointing out that the Democrat-turned-independent would provide Trump with insight into many issues, as well as bring a new voter base to the Trump ticket. A female vice president potentially holds sway over suburban women, many of whom dislike Trump for his brashness. An independent candidate, especially one who was previously a Democrat presidential candidate, has the possibility of swaying some independent and moderate Democrat voters.

Meanwhile, many have also argued that Gabbard would be a fantastic choice for a cabinet position in Trump’s second term, possibly in the Department of Defense or Veterans Affairs — as she has expertise in those areas.

Nikki Haley is no different from Liz Cheney and Hillary Clinton — women who have never served in the military and feel the need to "prove" how tough they are by always advocating for more war. To the voters of New Hampshire, please know that a vote for Haley is a vote for endless…

— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) January 22, 2024

It appears that this is Trump’s likely plan, as a Washington Post report has revealed that Trump and his top advisors have been speaking with Gabbard about foreign policy issues and how Trump could manage the Department of Defense in a different way if he retakes the White House in November.

Thus far, it is unclear whether Trump and his team met with Gabbard in person recently, but it has been confirmed that they have been speaking. Trump also met with Gabbard at least once in the past year in person, according to the Washington Post report.

Trump went through several national security and defense advisers in his first term, and has previously stated that one of his biggest mistakes in office was not choosing good leaders in the defense and foreign policy areas. Gabbard previously spoke out against Trump’s cabinet’s “war-hawk” mentality back when she was still a Democrat.

Trump is surrounded by neocon war hawks who supported regime change wars in Libya, Iraq, Syria…now they’re calling for overthrow the govts of Venezuela and Iran, and the result will be the same: thousands of lives lost, trillions wasted, more suffering. https://t.co/3fvfz3TIJI pic.twitter.com/UbgSr3BevL

— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) April 16, 2019

Restructuring the departments will likely be an important issue for Trump in his potential second term, as they have been viewed as “rogue,” “pro-war” and “supporting foreign intervention” by many conservatives — who point to the fact that the Department of Defense actively lied to Trump about troop levels in Syria after the then-president demanded that the U.S. withdraw from the country.

“We were always playing shell games to not make clear to our leadership how many troops we had there,” former Syria Envoy Jim Jeffrey said in an interview in 2020, adding that the number of U.S. troops left in northeast Syria was “a lot more than” the number of troops that Trump agreed to leave there.

Trump’s clear anti-intervention, America First policies have led to many speculating that he would be restructuring his cabinet in his second term to avoid actions like this again, and some have argued that Gabbard is an excellent choice to help Trump with this task and help to court voters who agree with these sentiments.

“She appeals to Republicans who are skeptical of intervention overseas, which is now a majority of Republican voters,” Republican strategist Andrew Surabian said.