Tulsi Gabbard's guru, Chris Butler, ran "schools" for the children inside his religious group, the Science of Identity Foundation (SIF). Out of respect for victims, I will gradually share details in ways that protect their identities.

For decades, many children who grew up within the Science of Identity Foundation were separated from their families and sent away to Butler's "schools." Crucially, these schools were not in the United States. Children were sent to ashrams in the Philippines and Eastern Europe, where they had no legal protection, no access to the world outside the ashram, and little to no contact with their own families.

These were not schools in any real sense. There were no genuine teachers, only indoctrination and extensive abuse. Multiple children and adults from within SIF have reported to me and others that the following abuses occurred at Butler's "schools":

• Child sexual abuse
• Physical abuse
• Medical neglect
• Emotional abuse
• Isolation
• Spiritual abuse

Children who dared to speak up risked being ostracized and abandoned by their own parents. Butler would order parents to cut off contact with their own children if those children were not sufficiently submissive to him.

The Chinese Communist Party does this to a captive population of millions. Butler did it to the families who trusted him.