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Tulsi hid it for eight months
U.S. intelligence officials are treating the material in the complaint with the utmost secrecy, contending that disclosure of the underlying intelligence report at issue could severely damage national security.
A heavily redacted version of the complaint was seen by select lawmakers in Congress last week after the Journal first reported on its existence and that it had stalled within Gabbard’s office. Democrats have questioned why the complaint was held up for eight months and indicated it raises national-security concerns that deserve more investigation. Republicans have defended Gabbard and said the attention on the complaint has been orchestrated to undermine the Trump administration.
The complaint specifically accused Gabbard of limiting the sharing of the intelligence concerning the conversation for political purposes. Shortly after the intelligence was collected last year, Gabbard met with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles to discuss the matter. The whistleblower complaint alleges that following that meeting, Gabbard worked to limit the sharing of the intelligence, people familiar with the complaint said.
A Gabbard spokeswoman has described those allegations as “baseless and politically motivated,” and said that the claims pertaining to Gabbard were deemed by the former acting inspector general to be not credible.
A second allegation in the complaint alleges that the NSA’s general counsel’s office failed to report a potential crime to the Justice Department that was raised by the content of the intercepted conversation, and did so for political purposes. A career official in that office determined the referral wasn’t necessary because the allegations lacked merit, a senior administration official said.
The intelligence community inspector general didn’t determine whether that allegation against the NSA was credible.
