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Gabbard defends presence at elections raid

In a letter sent Monday, the director of national intelligence acknowledged facilitating a phone call between Trump and FBI agents in Atlanta — but denied any wrongdoing.

By John Sakellariadis

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told lawmakers Monday that President Donald Trump personally asked her to be on site as FBI agents executed a politically sensitive search warrant at an Atlanta-area elections office, according to a copy of a letter sent by Gabbard and obtained by POLITICO.

Gabbard also confirmed news reports earlier Monday that she facilitated a call the next day between Trump and some of the FBI field agents who participated in the raid in Fulton County, Georgia — but denied that she or Trump pressured them.

“While visiting the FBI Field Office in Atlanta, I thanked the FBI agents for their professionalism and great work, and facilitated a brief phone call for the President to thank the agents personally for their work. He did not ask any questions, nor did he or l issue any directives,” Gabbard wrote in a letter sent to Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.).

Gabbard’s Monday missive came in response to a letter last Thursday from Warner and Himes — the top Democrats on the Senate and House intelligence panels — about the scope, legality and justification for her involvement in last Wednesday’s FBI raid. Lawmakers first learned she was on the scene via a photograph that circulated online.

It also followed the New York Times reporting earlier Monday that Gabbard arranged a call last Thursday between Trump and members of the FBI field office in Atlanta, which led the operation. The Justice Department is supposed to operate free from political interference, and it is highly unusual for a sitting president to have direct communication with frontline law enforcement personnel handling a sensitive case.

Trump continues to claim the 2020 election was rigged in favor of Joe Biden, and Georgia has long been at the center of his unproven claims of widespread fraud.

Even before news emerged about the call, Gabbard’s presence at the raid alarmed Democrats and current and former state election officials because the director of national intelligence is traditionally focused on foreign intelligence matters and rarely if ever plays a direct or highly visible role in domestic criminal investigations.

Gabbard said in the letter that her presence came at the explicit direction of the president and was well within her legal authority: “My presence was requested by the President and executed under my broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security, including counterintelligence (CI), foreign and other malign influence and cybersecurity,” she wrote.

She said she accompanied FBI Deputy Director Andrew Bailey and Atlanta acting Special Agent in Charge Pete Ellis only for “a brief period of time” to oversee FBI personnel executing the search warrant.

To justify her presence, Gabbard cited three statutes, one executive order and one presidential policy directive that broadly outline her office’s role in coordinating or overseeing intelligence on foreign election interference efforts and foreign threats to U.S. critical infrastructure, including election systems.

She also wrote that the ODNI’s general counsel’s office had “found my actions to be consistent and well within my statutory authorities.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Gabbard’s letter.

In a statement, Rachel Cohen, a spokesperson for Warner, said Gabbard’s letter only “raises more questions than it answers.” She added: “Senator Warner plans to continue pressing for accountability.”

On a podcast Monday, Trump repeated his claim that the 2020 election was stolen, and urged Republicans to nationalize the election process. Presidential elections are largely run at the state and local level.