Rep. Marianette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, is turning Hillary Clinton's most infamous phrase against her, sharply criticizing the former First Lady's suggestion that spy agency workers resist Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte and keep intelligence from him.

“I’m going to use Hillary Clinton's own words: deplorable," Miller/Meeks told the Just the News, No Noise TV show on Thursday. "That is disgusting behavior from a former secretary of state, from a former first lady, from a former senator."

The Iowa congresswoman emphasized that President Donald Trump should have “every tool in his tool box” when it comes to national intelligence, especially given that the threat level is high as the United States hosts the World Cup and the 250th anniversary of Independence Day.

“We need to have all ears to the ground to prevent tragedies from happening, such as the 9/11 tragedy,” Miller-Meeks said.

In a "Democracy Docket" podcast on Wednesday with host Marc Elias, Clinton said Pulte’s appointment was “deeply insulting to the intelligence community” and that he lacks intelligence experience after Elias questioned her concerns regarding Trump’s replacement of Tulsi Gabbard with Pulte.

Gabbard announced in May she would be stepping down from the position to help care for her husband as he battles cancer.

Clinton questioned why a lawsuit hasn’t been brought, stating she believes Pulte is “manifestly unqualified under the statute to hold that position.”

The former First Lady has a tenuous relationship with the intelligence community given that the FBI in 2016 found evidence that she and her colleagues were “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.”

“It certainly is unconscionable that she would say this,” Miller-Meeks said of Clinton.

Clinton said on the podcast that the DNI has access to all the nation's spy secrets, that people should be “worried about everything” with Pulte in the position and that she hopes there are “career and even political appointees in various of the agencies that are slow-walking or refusing to share information with Pulte.”

After assuming his position, Pulte quickly followed through with Trump’s wish to lay off staffers within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Other Democrats have criticized Trump for appointing Pulte, namely, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.).

“You’re going to turn the keys of all of our intelligence agencies over [to] somebody so grossly unqualified who’s shown he’s willing to take information and misuse it — secret information,” Warner said last month on Fox News.

Katherine Pugh is a reporter for Just the News. Follow her on X for more coverage.