Tulsi's guru targeted certain media shows, scripted the emotion, decided which issues she'd own, and engineered her entire PR strategy for maximum exposure.
He coached her resignation from the DNC. He built the case against Hillary Clinton two years before Tulsi used it. He critiqued her convention speech for sounding too much like Bernie Sanders. Across hundreds of recorded sessions, Chris Butler ran Tulsi Gabbard's public image like a brand. The "brave maverick Democrat," the "anti-war veteran," the "principled outsider," that persona was built in these transcripts, line by line.
The "pigeon-hole" problem: Butler's brand frustration
By late 2014, Butler was frustrated. Tulsi was known for one thing, military and foreign policy, and he wanted more range for her brand.
"Getting pigeon-holed into and limited to military things, and that's not good. Rand Paul went on and he spoke about a bunch of things, ISIS, Ferguson, all those different issues... Why is that? One reason is because you are very strongly identified with the particular issue."
Butler is watching her competitors (Rand Paul), analyzing their media positioning, and diagnosing why Tulsi isn't getting the same range of coverage. His solution: branch her into domestic policy, hence the Glass-Steagall directive, 2
the police militarization statement, 3
and the trade policy directives. 4
"She's not putting out her own position on issues. She's not putting out her own ads. She's not putting out her own press statements... She needs to start putting together who is she and what does she stand for... Instead of us just running around saying she's not an Islamophobe, she's not a right-wing Republican, she needs to put down who she is. She needs to define herself. It needs to be done professionally."
Butler as media coach: interview prep on tape
The transcripts capture Butler functioning as a media coach, the kind of high-end consultant that political figures pay thousands of dollars per session for.
Emotional delivery coaching (June 18, 2014)
Before Tulsi's appearance on Greta Van Susteren's Fox News show, Butler scripted not just what she'd say, but how she'd feel while saying it:
"I think she wants to know how you feel about the situation... Is it possible we could just leave out the sad part and just be mad? Easier to just feel one emotion instead of going from one emotion to the other. If it's just mad, you get to feel a little mad."
He then scripts the exact emotional beat:
"First, let me tell you how I feel about the present situation. Every single day, I carry with me the names and faces of my friends who didn't come home, and it makes me mad to see the very same leaders, like Lindsey Graham and others, who spent thousands of American lives and trillions of dollars invading Iraq, beating the drums of war and using fear-mongering..."
The "personality" suggestion
In the same prep session, Butler suggests she try using humor or personality on camera:
Butler: "I like the way I just said it. By the way, if you have personality in some things like this, sometimes it might make you more lively. I don't know, do you ever talk like that?" Tulsi: "No. Not really." Butler: "It might be an interesting thing to add to your quiver." Tulsi: "Yeah, I'd want to test it out in private before in public."
The Clinton strategy: Butler's anti-Hillary framing
Butler's transcripts contain sustained anti-Clinton messaging that predates Tulsi's public break from the Democratic establishment by years.
"No one who got us into Iraq, who voted for us to invade Iraq, Democrat or Republican, from Dick Cheney on, has any business [telling us] what we should do in the present situation... The good thing about that is that indirectly it includes John Kerry and Hillary Clinton."
Butler designed the Iraq critique specifically to encompass Clinton, two years before Tulsi resigned from the DNC to oppose her. In a discussion of Elizabeth Warren's economic populism, he added: "Rich people like Warren. She's worth like $10M and Clinton's worth tens of millions." 9
By 2016, the transcripts show "extensive coaching on Sanders-related messaging and criticism of Hillary Clinton's foreign policy, framing TG's break from the DNC establishment as a principled stand." 10
The DNC resignation: coached "principle"
On February 28, 2016, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard appeared on NBC's Meet the Press to announce her resignation as Vice Chair of the DNC and her endorsement of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for President. 11
She cited Clinton's Iraq War vote as the deciding factor: "There is a clear contrast between our two candidates with regard to my strong belief that we must end the interventionist, regime change policies that have cost us so much. This is not just another 'issue.' This is THE issue." 12
That framing, foregrounding anti-regime-change foreign policy as the reason for the split, matches Butler's messaging framework precisely. It's the same "no one who voted for Iraq has any business" argument he developed in June 2014. The media read it as political courage. NPR called it a "surprising political move." 13
Roll Call reported it as a dramatic break. 14
The Washington Post analyzed "Why did this top DNC official just endorse Bernie Sanders?" 15
The transcripts show Butler coaching this framing across multiple recorded sessions in the months before the resignation.
The Bernie critique: even the endorsement had limits
Butler endorsed the Sanders strategy, but he still micromanaged the execution. After Tulsi's People's Summit speech in June 2016:
"It's sort of all over the place... What this speech lacks to me is order. It is just all over the place so I don't know where it is going. It's kind of rambling... You're going into your campaigning for Bernie mode."
Fox News: Butler's preferred platform
The transcripts reveal that Butler saw Fox News as strategically valuable for Tulsi's positioning. Multiple transcripts reference Fox News appearances, Greta Van Susteren prep sessions, and Neil Cavuto talking points. 17
After Tulsi's early Fox News appearances, Butler noted:
"I think a lot of Democrats would appreciate that you went on Fox News and basically the first thing you said was basically criticizing the Republican senators. I mean they'd like that. It's kind of like you're the only one that's not scared to walk into the lion's den."
Butler understood the "brave Democrat on Fox News" narrative, and he was developing it. The PolitiFact analysis confirmed the result: "Gabbard first became an in-demand Fox News guest in 2015 after she criticized Barack Obama's unwillingness to use the label 'radical Islamic terrorism.'" 18
Conservative outlets amplified her. National Review ran: "Meet the Beautiful, Tough Young Democrat Who's Turning Heads by Challenging Obama's Foreign Policy" (May 2015). 19
Breitbart and The Daily Caller gave her positively-tilted coverage throughout 2015 and 2016. 20
Why this matters now
Tulsi Gabbard was appointed Director of National Intelligence by President Donald Trump in 2025. 21
During her tenure she oversaw 18 intelligence agencies and held the highest security clearances in the United States government.
Her political brand, the "independent-minded veteran," the "brave Democrat who broke from her party," the "principled outsider," was the foundation of her national profile. The transcripts document Chris Butler directing every component of that brand: the issues she championed, the language she used, the platforms she appeared on, the emotional delivery she employed, and the party break that made her famous.
