Among the problems facing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is that she isn’t just facing one controversy. Rather, she’s facing multiple overlapping controversies simultaneously.
At the top of the list is the fact that Gabbard, whose record has been plagued by problems, needlessly participated in an FBI raid on an Atlanta-area elections office as agents pursued one of Donald Trump’s absurd conspiracy theories, even though the DNI is prohibited by law from taking part in domestic law enforcement. Relatedly, the fact that Gabbard’s team also seized voting machines in Puerto Rico made matters a bit worse.
But hanging overhead is the DNI’s whistleblower controversy.
A report in The Wall Street Journal last week got the ball rolling, noting that an unnamed U.S. intelligence official accused Gabbard of wrongdoing in a highly sensitive whistleblower complaint that was supposed to be shared with Congress. Despite the fact that the complaint was filed in May, and the DNI was legally required to share it with specific members within 21 days, it wasn’t until last week that key lawmakers finally gained access to the allegations, roughly eight months after they were first levied.
The disclosure seemed like a modest step in the right direction, though members quickly learned that the materials were significantly redacted, giving them a limited view.
Over the weekend, however, some of the bigger picture started coming into focus — at least a little. The New York Times reported:
Members of Congress were briefed this week on a whistle-blower report about an intelligence intercept of a call between two foreign nationals discussing a person close to President Trump, according to people familiar with the material.
It is not clear what country the two foreign nationals were from, but the discussion involved Iran. … The identity of the person close to Mr. Trump could not be immediately determined, nor could the content of what the two foreign nationals were saying about the person.
To be sure, we’re a long way from true clarity on the story, but between the Times’ report and related reports from The Wall Street Journal and The Guardian (none of which have been independently verified by MS NOW), we appear to know more about the nature of the controversy than we did a week ago.
If the reporting is correct, U.S. intelligence agencies learned about a sensitive phone conversation involving someone close to Trump. According to Andrew Bakaj, the whistleblower’s attorney, Gabbard then took that information directly to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, while restricting access among the nation’s spy agencies.
In other words, the DNI has effectively been accused of participating in something resembling a coverup.
To be sure, Gabbard condemned the reporting as “false,” though given the DNI’s recent track record, it’s fair to say her credibility is far from sterling.
What’s more, the inspector general’s office in Gabbard’s office has also reportedly concluded that her actions were proper, but it’s also worth emphasizing for context that The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal separately reported that the DNI took steps to politicize the IG’s office, firing its counsel and appointing an aide who reported directly to her, undermining the watchdog office’s independence. All of this happened shortly after the complaint from a whistleblower was filed against Gabbard with the IG’s office.
After Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said publicly that he believes Gabbard “hid” the whistleblower complaint against her from Congress, despite legal requirements, the DNI issued a statement lashing out at the senator “and his friends in the Propaganda Media.”
That’s generally not the kind of rhetoric one would expect from a director of national intelligence, serving in an office that’s supposed to be apolitical, but Gabbard apparently isn’t overly concerned with keeping up appearances. Watch this space.
