- Gabbard has referred the Trump impeachment whistleblower and former intelligence watchdog Michael Atkinson to the Justice Department for criminal investigation
- The released documents identify no specific crimes, and Gabbard admits she is "leaving it up to the lawyers" to determine what laws were broken
- The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee warns the move will "chill future whistleblowers"
THE director of National Intelligence in the US, Tulsi Gabbard, has sent criminal referrals to the Justice Department seeking investigations into the whistleblower whose complaint led to president Donald Trump's first impeachment in 2019, as well as the former intelligence community watchdog who handled the case.
The referrals, confirmed by a spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and first reported by Fox News, target the still-anonymous whistleblower who raised concerns about Trump's July 2019 phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
During the conversation, Trump urged Zelensky to investigate then-former vice president Joe Biden — as well as former intelligence community inspector General Michael Atkinson, who subsequently informed Congress of the complaint.
The general counsel for Gabbard's office cited "possible criminal activity in violation of federal criminal law committed by one or more former employees of the intelligence community," according to various media reports.
The specific crimes alleged have not been publicly disclosed, and it remains unclear whether the Department of Justice will pursue an investigation.
FILE PHOTO: Tulsi Gabbard with Donald Trump (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The referrals follow the release earlier this week of newly declassified documents that Gabbard claimed exposed a "coordinated effort" to "manufacture a conspiracy" used to impeach Trump.
In a statement accompanying the documents, Gabbard said: "Deep state actors within the Intelligence Community concocted a false narrative that was used by Congress to usurp the will of the American people and impeach the duly-elected president of the US."
However, the documents, which include transcripts of Atkinson's closed-door testimony before the House Intelligence Committee in 2019 and notes from interviews with the whistleblower, do not appear to contain specific evidence of criminal wrongdoing, nor do they challenge the core facts presented during the impeachment proceedings.
When pressed on precisely which laws she believes were broken, Gabbard was notably vague. She said: "I'm leaving it up to the lawyers and the Department of Justice to take a look at this and to determine the specific legal parameters."
Atkinson, who spent 15 years at the Justice Department before serving as intelligence community inspector general from 2018 to 2020, was fired by Trump in April 2020. At the time, Atkinson said his dismissal was difficult to view as anything other than a consequence of having "faithfully discharged" his legal obligations as an independent inspector general.
A former DOJ official said the suggestion that Atkinson had engaged in criminal wrongdoing was "preposterous," describing him as "an exceedingly careful and thoughtful attorney and public servant."
The move has drawn sharp criticism from the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut said in a statement: "The whistleblower who made Congress aware of Trump's efforts to extort Ukraine and falsely smear his opponent followed all the rules and demonstrated courage and principle."
He warned that while the referral would "amount to nothing because no misconduct occurred," it would nonetheless "chill future whistleblowers from coming forward to Congress with confidence that the law will protect them. I suspect that is precisely the point."
Menawhile, the documents released by Gabbard's own office reportedly include positive descriptions of the whistleblower, with one colleague characterised as calling them a "star performer" who was credible and trustworthy.
The criminal referrals are the latest in a series of actions by the Trump administration to revisit the political battles of his first term. Gabbard has also used her tenure to push back on the 2017 intelligence assessment that concluded Russia interfered in the 2016 election to benefit Trump. CIA director John Ratcliffe separately made a criminal referral targeting former CIA director John Brennan.
Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives in December 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. He was acquitted by the Senate in February 2020.
Earlier this week, the president renewed his claim on Truth Social that the impeachment was a "hoax" and endorsed arguments by his former lawyer Alan Dershowitz that it should be formally reversed.
