Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard asked the Justice Department to investigate two former government officials who played a central role in President Trump’s first impeachment inquiry.
A spokesperson for Gabbard’s office confirmed that she drafted criminal referrals for a whistleblower and a former intelligence community watchdog, but did not detail what specific crimes are alleged. Whether to pursue a criminal investigation following a referral is up to prosecutors at the Justice Department.
The referrals came after Gabbard criticized how former Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson handled the 2019 whistleblower complaint earlier this week, releasing a trove of documents linked to Atkinson.
The whistleblower — whose identity has not been formally disclosed — reported an “urgent concern” about President Trump’s request for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden. The complaint also expressed concerns about how records of a Trump-Zelenskyy phone call were handled, and about the role of Mr. Trump’s then-personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, in the U.S.’s relationship with Ukraine.
“I have received information from multiple U.S. Government officials that the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election,” the whistleblower wrote. “This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President’s main domestic political rivals.”
Mr. Trump was impeached in the House of Representatives in late 2019, but was acquitted in a Senate vote mostly along party lines in early 2020. He has long denied any wrongdoing, referring to his phone call with Zelenskyy as “perfect.”
Gabbard alleged in a post on X Monday that “deep state actors” in the intelligence community “concocted a false narrative that Congress used to usurp the will of the American people and impeach duly-elected President @realDonaldTrump in 2019.” She argued that the inspector general relied on “second-hand evidence” in looking into the whistleblower complaint.
The documents, however, do not provide any direct evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
Atkinson was fired by Mr. Trump in 2020. In a statement after his removal, Atkinson said he had “faithfully discharged” his duties as inspector general and spent his nearly two-decade career serving “without regard to partisan favor or political fear.”
Atkinson and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The referral was first reported by Fox News.
The criminal referrals mark the latest effort by Gabbard and other administration officials to revisit political battles from Mr. Trump’s first term. Last year, her office released files related to the intelligence community’s review of Russian interference in the 2016 election, claiming they showed a “treasonous conspiracy” by Biden-era officials.
Gabbard also said she would forward those documents to the Justice Department for a criminal referral, though it isn’t clear what criminal wrongdoing was alleged. Several figures from the Russian election interference saga, including former CIA Director John Brennan, have been subpoenaed as part of a probe by federal prosecutors in Florida. No charges have been filed.
Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, sharply criticized Gabbard’s referral and defended the 2019 whistleblower, whom he said “demonstrated courage and principle” in bringing to light Mr. Trump’s “efforts to extort Ukraine and falsely smear his opponent.”
“This apparent criminal referral will amount to nothing because no misconduct occurred, but what it will do is chill future whistleblowers from coming forward to Congress with confidence that the law will protect them. I suspect that is precisely the point,” Himes said in a statement.
