Whistleblower Allegations Against Tulsi Gabbard Uncovered: What You Need to Know

A whistleblower complaint has surfaced, alleging that Tulsi Gabbard attempted to suppress details of a sensitive phone call involving a key ally of Donald Trump and a foreign official, reportedly discussing matters related to Iran.

Last May, an anonymous whistleblower accused the Director of National Intelligence of intentionally withholding information about the call from U.S. intelligence agencies, raising concerns among officials.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the conversation was intercepted by a contractor for the National Security Agency and involved significant issues concerning Iran. However, the identities of the Trump ally and the foreign official remain undisclosed.

The existence of this complaint has only recently come to light after an eight-month impasse regarding the disclosure of its details to Congress.

Tulsi Gabbard has refuted any allegations of misconduct. In a statement to the Journal, her spokesperson asserted that all of Gabbard’s actions were “entirely within her legal and statutory authority.”

The spokeswoman reportedly did not address questions about the substance of the complaint, but said that the allegations against Gabbard are ‘baseless and politically motivated.’ 

Gabbard’s rep added that the former acting Inspector General, Tamara Johnson, determined the whistleblower complaint could not be verified as credible. 

Following months of legal wrangling over the complaint, Johnson’s replacement Christopher Fox, who previously served as an aide to Gabbard, presented the complaint’s details to a select group of members of Congress on Monday. 

The whistleblower complaint engulfing Tulsi Gabbard accused her of suppressing a sensitive phone call between a close Trump ally and a foreign official concerning Iran, reports say 

Gabbard, who serves as President Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, was accused by an anonymous whistleblower last May of deliberately suppressing information about the phone call within US intelligence agencies

According to CBS News, the highly sensitive nature of the complaint meant that when Fox presented the complaint this week, he carried the document by hand to contain it. 

The document was reviewed on a ‘read-and-return’ basis by members and staff of the Gang of Eight, the small bipartisan group who oversee America’s spy agencies. 

According to intelligence insiders who spoke to the Journal, the conversation that triggered the whistleblower complaint was difficult to assess, ‘in part because it wasn’t clear whether what was being discussed about the person close to Trump was true.’ 

Shortly after the intelligence was intercepted, Gabbard then met with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, sources said. 

Following that meeting, Gabbard used her status as the US spy chief to limit the sharing of the intelligence within US intelligence agencies, according to the whistleblower complaint. 

The complainant also claimed that an intelligence agency’s legal office failed to refer a potential crime to the Justice Department, allegedly for political reasons. 

Fox told lawmakers in a letter approved for public release on Tuesday that the complaint was ‘administratively closed’ by his predecessor in June and no further action was taken.

‘If the same or similar matter came before me today, I would likely determine that the allegations do not meet the statutory definition of “urgent concern,”‘ Fox wrote. 

Intelligence sources reportedly said that Gabbard tried to suppress the whistleblower complaint last May after discovering it was concerning Iran – which has been embroiled in protests in recent weeks 

United States Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard speaks on the phone after the FBI executed a search warrant for the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center in relation to the 2020 election on January 28

Fox, an ex-Gabbard aide who took over as IG after Donald Trump purged Joe Biden’s watchdogs, briefed Congress after receiving final approval from the DNI chief on Friday.

Fox said in the letter that the complaint was tied up for months while his office sought legal clearance to view the classified complaint. He cited the ‘complexity of the classification’, a 43-day government shutdown that started in October and leadership changes at DNI.

Fox stated that on December 4 he and a senior lawyer, Jack Dever, raised the issue directly with Gabbard, who said she had not previously been told clearance to share the complaint was pending.

Later that day, Dever said that guidance was forthcoming ‘pending a review by the White House Counsel for a potential assertion of executive privilege.’

The complaint’s existence was first revealed Monday by the Wall Street Journal, which likened it to ‘a cloak-and-dagger mystery reminiscent of a John le Carré novel.’

In a statement, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford, an Arkansas Republican, said: ‘I concur with the conclusion that the Biden-era IC IG, Tamara Johnson, reached regarding the non-credible nature of the complaint and the re-review that the current IC IG, Chris Fox, conducted, reaching the same conclusion.’

He added: ‘The ensuing media firestorm, fed by speculation and little fact, was an attempt to smear Director Gabbard and the Trump Administration.’

Shortly after the intelligence was intercepted, Gabbard met with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, sources said. Following that meeting, Gabbard used her status as the US spy chief to limit the sharing of the intelligence within US intelligence agencies, according to the whistleblower complaint

A spokeswoman for Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, a Democrat, claimed that the incident underlined Gabbard’s incompetence.

‘This timeline makes unmistakably clear that Director Gabbard does not understand the basic obligations of her role – the predictable result of placing someone out of her depth in one of the nation’s most sensitive positions,’ Rachel Cohen said.

‘During her confirmation hearing, Director Gabbard pledged under oath to protect whistleblowers and respect Congress’s oversight role, commitments that come with this office whether she understands them or not.’

IG Johnson, a career civil servant, had determined at the time of the initial complaint that the allegation met the legal threshold of ‘urgent concern’ if true.

But three days later, after receiving new information Johnson wrote another memo which concluded the whistleblower’s complaint was not credible.

A spokeswoman for Gabbard on Monday dismissed the ‘baseless’ complaint and denied stonewalling the whistleblower’s allegations.

DNI spokeswoman Olivia Coleman said: ‘This is a classic case of a politically motivated individual weaponizing their position in the Intelligence Community, submitting a baseless complaint and then burying it in highly classified information to create false intrigue, a manufactured narrative, and conditions which make it substantially more difficult to produce “security guidance” for transmittal to Congress.’

Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, a Democrat, claimed that the incident underlined Gabbard’s incompetence

The controversy comes as Gabbard has been sidelined in the Trump administration over major national security matters, including Venezuela and Iran.

Instead, Gabbard has been tasked with verifying Trump’s claims of election fraud stemming from the 2020 election.

A joke circulated around the White House that Gabbard’s DNI title stood for ‘Do Not Invite’ following Nicolas Maduro’s capture last month.

The White House feared that Gabbard, who in 2019 argued against intervention in Venezuela, would not support Operation Absolute Resolve, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly arguing she should be excluded from the mission.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe was front and center as the most senior intelligence official, beamed out in White House pictures that included the President, Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

As DNI, Gabbard is supposed to be Trump’s top intelligence adviser overseeing America’s 18 spy agencies, including the CIA.

Trump publicly rebuked Gabbard in June after she said during congressional testimony that Iran was ‘not building a nuclear weapon.’

The comments were put to the President as he planned to strike the country’s nuclear sites alongside Israel.

‘I don’t care what she said,’ he told reporters aboard Air Force One.