Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's office has referred at least two former Intelligence Community officials to the Justice Department for criminal investigation, targeting the former inspector general and the whistleblower whose actions set the first impeachment of President Trump in motion. The referrals, written by ODNI's general counsel, cite "possible criminal activity" connected to the handling of the 2019 whistleblower complaint about Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The move came days after Gabbard released a trove of newly declassified documents that her office says expose how the complaint was advanced despite signs of political bias, and how key evidence was withheld from the lawmakers who voted to impeach.
An ODNI spokesperson confirmed the referral to the New York Post, stating it was "related to one or more former employees of the Intelligence Community and their role in the 2019 impeachment of President Trump." The Justice Department did not immediately respond to the Post's request for comment.
Fox News reported that former Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson and the unnamed whistleblower were the individuals targeted. The referrals reference Atkinson's discussions and briefings with the House Intelligence Committee in 2019, interactions Gabbard's office says did not follow proper procedure.
Gabbard described the whistleblower as "a former CIA employee who was working hand in glove with Democrats in Congress." Newly declassified records and testimony indicate the whistleblower contacted congressional Democrats before filing the formal complaint, a detail that raises pointed questions about whether the process was coordinated rather than independent, as it was presented at the time.
Gabbard's office found that Atkinson identified signs of political bias on the part of the whistleblower but still treated the complaint as an "urgent concern" and forwarded it to Congress. The declassified documents, which include transcripts of Atkinson's closed-door testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, were withheld from House lawmakers handling the impeachment inquiry.
That is a significant detail. The members of Congress who voted to impeach a sitting president apparently never saw the testimony of the inspector general who launched the process, testimony that, Gabbard now says, would have revealed the complaint's shaky foundation.
Gabbard did not mince words. In a statement, she laid out what she called a pattern of deliberate manipulation inside the Intelligence Community:
"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 United States."
She went further, singling out Atkinson by name and the whistleblower by role. Gabbard has faced intense scrutiny in recent months over her leadership of the intelligence apparatus, including questions about her standing within the administration and clashes with congressional critics.
But on this matter, she was direct. In a post on X, she wrote that newly declassified records "expose how deep state actors within 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."
In her formal statement, Gabbard added:
"Inspector General Atkinson failed to uphold his responsibility to the American people, putting political motivations over the truth. And this, along with the politicization of the whistleblower process by a former CIA employee who was working hand in glove with Democrats in Congress, are egregious examples of the deep state playbook on how to weaponize the Intelligence Community."
She said the referrals and the release of the documents serve a broader purpose:
"Exposing these tactics and showing how they undermine the fabric of our democratic republic furthers the critical cause of transparency and accountability and will help prevent future abuse of power."
The referral itself, drafted by ODNI's general counsel, was explicit in its scope. Just the News reported that the document stated: "I want to refer information that may constitute possible criminal activity in violation of federal criminal law committed by one or more former employees of the intelligence community." No specific criminal statutes were identified in the available reporting.
Gabbard's office has alleged that Atkinson "weaponized the whistle-blower process" and used his office to "manufacture a conspiracy that was used as the basis to impeach President Trump." These are strong claims, and the declassified material, including Atkinson's previously hidden testimony, will now be subject to public and legal scrutiny.
It is worth noting that a criminal referral is not a charge. It is a formal request that prosecutors examine whether laws were broken. The DOJ has not announced any action, and no arrests have been reported. Whether the department under its current leadership pursues the matter will be the next chapter of this story.
The documents released by Gabbard earlier this week paint a picture of an inspector general who, by her office's account, saw red flags and proceeded anyway. Gabbard's office says the records show Atkinson "seemingly ignored evidence suggesting the whistleblower was biased against Trump", and then sent the complaint to Congress without disclosing that bias to lawmakers.
The whistleblower's complaint centered on Trump's July 2019 call with Zelensky, which Democrats argued amounted to a quid pro quo, conditioning U.S. military aid on Ukraine's willingness to investigate political rivals. That complaint became the foundation of the first impeachment.
But if the whistleblower was in contact with Democratic members of Congress before filing the complaint, as the Washington Times reported, citing newly declassified material, the entire premise of an independent, nonpartisan whistleblower process comes into question. That is not a minor procedural quibble. It goes to the legitimacy of the impeachment itself.
Gabbard's broader effort to bring accountability to the Intelligence Community has unfolded amid other high-profile controversies. Her office was reportedly kept in the dark about an FBI investigation into a senior official before his resignation, a separate episode that raised its own questions about information flow within the intelligence apparatus.
For years, conservatives have argued that the 2019 impeachment was built on a politicized intelligence process, that officials with axes to grind used their positions to engineer a predetermined outcome. That argument was dismissed by Democrats and much of the media as conspiracy thinking.
The declassified transcripts and the criminal referrals now give that argument documentary support, at least in outline. Whether the evidence holds up under prosecutorial review is another matter. But the fact that the nation's top intelligence official is willing to put the names of former colleagues in front of federal prosecutors signals that this is not a messaging exercise.
Gabbard has also publicly pushed back against Senate critics who challenged her handling of whistleblower-related timelines, calling their accusations "a blatant lie." The pattern is consistent: Gabbard has positioned herself as willing to confront the Intelligence Community's internal culture of self-protection, even when it draws fire from both sides of the aisle.
Several important questions remain unanswered. What specific criminal statutes, if any, does the referral cite? What precisely did Atkinson's closed-door testimony reveal that was kept from impeachment investigators? And will the Justice Department act on the referral, or let it gather dust?
The identity of the whistleblower, though widely speculated about in media circles since 2019, has never been officially confirmed. Gabbard's referral does not name the individual publicly, describing the person only as "a former CIA employee." That individual now faces the prospect of a federal criminal inquiry into conduct that was, at the time, celebrated by Democrats as courageous public service.
Gabbard has also overseen other significant law-enforcement actions under the current administration, reinforcing her role as a hands-on intelligence chief rather than a figurehead.
The 2019 impeachment divided the country. It consumed months of congressional energy, dominated the news cycle, and ended with an acquittal in the Senate. If the process that launched it was tainted from the start, if the watchdog ignored bias, if the whistleblower coordinated with partisans, if the transcripts were hidden, then the American public deserves to know. And someone should answer for it.
Accountability delayed is not accountability denied. But it does test the patience of the people who were told to trust the process, and are only now learning what the process actually looked like.
