Here’s Why Tulsi Gabbard Was At The Fulton County Search
A newly disclosed letter shows that President Trump specifically asked Tulsi Gabbard to accompany FBI personnel during the Fulton County, Georgia search of an election office. Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, said she joined the operation briefly to observe the search under her authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze election-security intelligence, including counterintelligence and cybersecurity. She noted that her responsibilities cover the FBI’s Intelligence and Counterintelligence divisions and that 12 FBI field offices have domestic DNI representatives, adding she has visited several of them. She stated the President did not ask any questions or issue directives, and she helped arrange a brief call for the President to thank the agents; the ODNI’s Office of General Counsel found her actions to be within authority. In response to lawmakers, she argued that election security is a national security issue and that the ODNI was tasked with safeguarding integrity, working with interagency partners such as DHS and the FBI. She also asserted that electronic voting systems have vulnerabilities that could be exploited, and that the IC will continue to collect and assess intelligence on this threat, with plans to share findings with Congress once complete, while noting that the President does not need congressional approval to undertake significant intelligence activity and that the warrant was sealed by a Georgia court, which prevented prior briefing.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump specifically instructed Tulsi Gabbard to be present during the execution of a search warrant at an election office in Fulton County, Georgia, a letter obtained by The Daily Wire shows.
The Director of National Intelligence explained why she was present during the January 28 raid in a Monday evening letter to Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Rep. James Himes (D-CT). Warner is the vice chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, while Himes is the ranking member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
“For a brief period of time, I accompanied FBI Deputy Director Bailey and Atlanta Acting Special Agent in Charge Pete Ellis in observing FBI personnel executing that search warrant,” Gabbard explains.
“My presence,” she wrote, “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.”
Gabbard notes that the FBI’s Intelligence and Counterintelligence divisions are among the 18 elements she oversees, and that 12 of the FBI’s field offices across the United States have senior FBI officials who are also her domestic DNI representatives.
“I have visited several of my Domestic DNI-Reps at FBI Field Offices across the country,” Gabbard said. “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 I issue any directives.”
Security envelopes for absentee ballots sit in stacked boxes as Fulton County workers continue to count absentee ballots at State Farm Arena on November 6, 2020, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)
She adds: “ODNI’s Office of General Counsel has found my actions to be consistent and well within my statutory authorities as the Director of National Intelligence.”
Gabbard responded to several questions posed by Democratic lawmakers. She first addresses ballot integrity, saying: “Election security is a national security issue,” and arguing that “interference in U.S. elections is a threat to our republic and a national security threat.”
“The President and his Administration are committed to safeguarding the integrity of U.S. elections to ensure that neither foreign nor domestic powers undermine the American people’s right to determine who our elected leaders are,” she wrote. “Towards that effort, the President tasked ODNI with taking all appropriate actions under my statutory authorities towards ensuring the integrity of our elections and specifically directed my observance of the execution of the Fulton County search warrant.”
ODNI has been reviewing intelligence on election integrity ever since she took office, Gabbard said. National Counterintelligence and Security Center’s (NCSC) personnel traveled with her to Fulton County, though they were not present during the warrant’s execution.
Her letter stresses that she has “broad authority” to “coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence” related to election security.
“To preserve the integrity of our elections, we must understand whether there has been foreign or other malign interference in our elections, and whether vulnerabilities exist in our election infrastructure that could be exploited in future elections,” she wrote.
“To enable this, it is critical that the Intelligence Community (IC) work with interagency partners like the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and other IC elements to ensure coordination of efforts and intelligence sharing and integration.”
Gabbard stresses that both information and intelligence reporting indicate that the United States’ electronic voting systems have “long been vulnerable to exploitation that could result in enabling determined actors to manipulate” election results.
“ODNI and the IC continue to collect and assess all available intelligence concerning this threat to ensure the security and integrity of our elections,” she writes. “Searching through intelligence holdings and conducting assessments with analytic rigor and excellence is an arduous and often time-consuming process. However, that process ensures that the IC’s finished intelligence products are objective, independent of political considerations, and based on all available sources.”
Gabbard promises to share her intelligence assessments with Congress once they are complete.
But, she adds, the president is not required to obtain approval from the congressional intelligence committees before he initiates a “significant intelligence activity.”
“Moreover, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia issued the search warrant on The Office of the Clerk of The Court of Fulton County under seal,” Gabbard said. “As such, I have not seen the warrant or the evidence of probable cause that the DOJ submitted to Court for approval. Therefore, the ODNI had no ability, authority or responsibility to inform the Committees about the search warrant ahead of its execution.”
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