Whistleblower Complaint Against Tulsi Gabbard Under Review
In Washington, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is facing a whistleblower complaint that has reportedly been pending for several months while authorities deliberate on it.
Initial reports about the complaint surfaced on Monday, with details still somewhat vague. The attorney representing the whistleblower, Andrew Bakaj, claimed in a letter from November that Gabbard had obstructed lawmakers from accessing the report.
“There was absolutely no wrongdoing by DNI Gabbard,” asserted Olivia Coleman, a spokesperson for Gabbard’s office, in a statement shared on X.
She noted that even the Intelligence Community Inspector General, during the Biden administration, concluded that the allegations against Gabbard were “not credible.”
A representative from the Inspector General’s Office acknowledged that while some claims were found to be unreliable, they could not ascertain the validity of other allegations in the complaint.
The Inspector General’s Office did not provide any comments to the Post when they were contacted.
According to sources, the whistleblower complaint from May involved various federal agencies, not just the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which raises concerns about executive privilege.
Bakaj claimed that Gabbard had a responsibility to advise her on which elements of the complaint were appropriate to send to Congress, given the sensitive nature of the information. Meanwhile, her legal team argued otherwise.
“In my experience,” Bakaj commented, “it’s confusing. It shouldn’t take eight months to submit the disclosure.”
However, officials from the ODNI stated that Gabbard wasn’t informed of the need for security coaching for several months after the complaint was lodged, and that she acted promptly once she was made aware of it.
This development occurred shortly after Christopher Fox became the new Inspector General this past October. In addition, the official mentioned that Gabbard wasn’t legally bound to send the complaint as it was initially deemed not credible.
On Monday, Coleman announced that “the whistleblower complaint has been submitted to the Congressional Intelligence Committee for review.”
“Director Gabbard supports whistleblowers and recognizes their right to file complaints with Congress, even if they lack merit, as seems to be the case here,” she added.
It remains uncertain whether either committee has examined the complete complaint, as spokespeople for both committees have refrained from commenting publicly.
According to an ICIG representative, a copy of the complaint is stored securely, containing “highly sensitive material that requires special handling and storage protocols.”
Bakaj had previously assisted a CIA employee whose whistleblower claims led to President Trump’s first impeachment in 2019. Requests for comments from Bakaj went unanswered by the Post.
Gabbard recently made headlines when she was seen overseeing an FBI raid at an election center in Fulton County, Georgia, where Trump supporters allege that fraudulent ballots were counted during the 2020 election. Her involvement underscores her significant role in investigations related to the allegations that impacted Trump’s bid for a second term.
