DNI Gabbard Pushes Back on Whistleblower Claims

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard forcefully denied claims that she concealed a classified whistleblower complaint, accusing Sen. Mark Warner and "his friends in the Propaganda Media" of spreading what she called a "blatant lie."

"Senator Mark Warner and his friends in the Propaganda Media have repeatedly lied to the American people that I or the ODNI 'hid' a whistleblower complaint in a safe for eight months," Gabbard wrote in a social media post.

"This is a blatant lie," she wrote.

Gabbard insisted she was never in possession of the complaint.

"I am not now, nor have I ever been, in possession or control of the Whistleblower's complaint, so I obviously could not have 'hidden' it in a safe," she wrote, adding that "Biden-era IC Inspector General Tamara Johnson was in possession of and responsible for securing the complaint for months."

Gabbard said she only reviewed the complaint recently.

"The first time I saw the whistleblower complaint was 2 weeks ago when I had to review it to provide guidance on how it should be securely shared with Congress," she wrote.

The controversy follows a report earlier this week by The Wall Street Journal describing a top secret complaint from an anonymous government insider alleging Gabbard withheld classified information for political reasons and failed to promptly transmit the complaint to Congress.

Gabbard pushed back on the notion that the complaint was improperly stored, arguing it contained highly classified intelligence and required secure handling.

"As Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Warner knows very well that whistleblower complaints that contain highly classified and compartmented intelligence, even if they contain baseless allegations like this one, must be secured in a safe," she wrote.

She said the complaint remained secured even after it was shared with senior congressional leaders.

"After IC Inspector General Fox hand-delivered the complaint to the Gang of 8, the complaint was returned to a safe where it remains, consistent with any information of such sensitivity," she said.

Gabbard also directly attacked Warner's credibility.

"Either Senator Warner knows these facts and is intentionally lying to the American people, or he doesn't have a clue how these things work and is therefore not qualified to be in the U.S. Senate, and certainly not the Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee," she wrote.

In a detailed timeline, Gabbard said she first learned in June 2025 that a whistleblower had filed a complaint against her.

She said that after review, "neither Biden-era IC Inspector General Tamara Johnson nor current IC Inspector General Chris Fox found the complaint to be credible."

She argued the complaint was stored in a safe because "the complainant chose to include highly sensitive information within the complaint itself," rather than referencing the intelligence at a lower classification level.

Gabbard also disputed claims that she violated the legal timeline for transmitting the complaint.

"When a complaint is not found to be credible, there is no timeline under the law for the provision of security guidance," she wrote, adding that the "21 day" requirement applies only when a complaint is deemed "both urgent AND apparently credible."

"That was NOT the case here," she said.

Gabbard said she was notified by Inspector General Chris Fox on Dec. 4, 2025, that security guidance was needed and claimed she acted immediately.

"I took immediate action to provide the security guidance," she wrote, saying the inspector general then shared the complaint with Congress last week.

She concluded by accusing Warner of using the matter for political purposes, writing, "Senator Warner's decision to spread lies and baseless accusations over the months for political gain, undermines our national security and is a disservice to the American people and the Intelligence Community."