Did Tulsi Gabbard cover up a whistleblower complaint? |
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard survived a bruising Senate confirmation fight 12 months ago, despite her lack of experience for the job. She then got down to pursuing high-profile intelligence issues, mostly aimed at revealing hidden historical truths. This generated more heat than light but was edifying to many MAGA voters.
By the end of last year, however, Gabbard seemed to have disappeared. She played no discernible role in the daring raid to snatch fugitive President Nicolás Maduro. And last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Gabbard had interfered with an Intelligence Community Inspector General report regarding a whistleblower allegation of DNI malfeasance.
The report was short on specifics but centered on a phone call intercepted by the National Security Agency involving foreign intelligence and a discussion of a Trump administration official. This isn’t unusual. Intercepting foreign communications is NSA’s main job, and sometimes such signals intelligence collection pulls up discussions about — and sometimes with — top U.S. government officials. Per NSA procedure, when such “incidental collection” occurs, the identity of any U.S. person is masked in SIGINT reporting. The WSJ account, though light on substance, more than implied that Gabbard was dodging the whistleblower allegation, including hiding it from Congress.
TRUMP GIVES RUSSIA AND UKRAINE JUNE DEADLINE TO END WAR: ZELENSKY
This revelation delivered Democrat denunciations and MAGA fury, amid claims of a set-up to discredit Gabbard. The Guardian then advanced the story with new details that the NSA intercepted the call last spring and it involved a discussion about a senior Trump official between two foreign intelligence officers. This highly classified intercept was brought to the DNI’s attention, at which point Gabbard shared it with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.........