Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who Wednesday said Iran's nuclear facilities were destroyed by U.S. airstrikes last weekend, is not expected to be among the Trump administration officials to brief lawmakers Thursday.
The administration plans to limit classified intelligence sharing with Congress after leaks to the media of an early assessment of the state of Iran's nuclear program following airstrikes Saturday night by a squadron of U.S. B-2 Spirit bombers, The Washington Post reported. It sets the stage for a contentious classified briefing with senators Thursday.
The White House is expected to send four national security officials to the briefing: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, the Post reported, citing unnamed administration officials.
"Ratcliffe will represent the intelligence community," a senior Trump administration official told the Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans not yet made public. "The media is turning this into something it's not."
Gabbard told the Senate Intelligence Committee in March that the intelligence community "continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and Supreme Leader [Ali] Khamenei has not authorized nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003."
President Donald Trump rejected the media coverage of her statement earlier this month, saying, "I don't care what she said. I think they were very close to having one," and "she's wrong."
Gabbard clarified June 20 in a post on X that "the dishonest media" is "intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division."
She included a video of her full opening statement in which she said, in part, "Iran's enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons."
"America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the assembly," Gabbard wrote. "President Trump has been clear that can't happen, and I agree."
Democrats have been sharply critical of the Trump administration for not briefing lawmakers on Iran — with multiple members pointing to the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of military action and provide a classified briefing.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., were given a heads-up about the Iran attacks before Trump's public announcement of them, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing people familiar with the notifications.
The classified briefings for Senate and House lawmakers were initially scheduled for Tuesday. They were postponed to Thursday for the Senate and Friday for the House as Trump worked to negotiate a ceasefire and to accommodate travel schedules, the senior Trump administration official told the Post.
Trump, Hegseth, and Rubio were at The Hague on Wednesday for the annual NATO summit.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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