Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is at the center of a growing whistleblower controversy after allegations that she personally intervened to block the distribution of a highly classified intelligence report involving a person close to President Donald Trump.
According to a whistleblower account relayed to The Guardian, the National Security Agency detected evidence in the spring of 2025 of a call between someone close to Trump and an individual associated with foreign intelligence. Rather than allowing the NSA to circulate its findings through standard intelligence channels, the whistleblower alleges Gabbard removed a paper copy of the intelligence and delivered it directly to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. She then allegedly instructed the NSA not to publish its report and instead route all related information through her office.
Gabbard’s office has forcefully denied the allegations, calling the reporting false and politically motivated. In a statement responding to the Guardian, a spokesperson said every action taken by Gabbard was within her legal and statutory authority and warned that the claims undermine national security work across the intelligence community.
Gabbard also addressed accusations that the whistleblower complaint was kept hidden. Writing on X, she said she was never in possession of the complaint until recently and could not have concealed it. She placed responsibility on then–Intelligence Community Inspector General Tamara Johnson, whom she said held and secured the complaint for months. Gabbard stated she first reviewed the complaint two weeks ago to provide guidance on how it could be securely shared with Congress.
The intelligence at issue reportedly involved two foreign nationals discussing both Iran and a person close to Trump, according to The New York Times, which cited someone familiar with congressional briefings. The White House and the NSA have been contacted for comment.
The whistleblower complaint itself was first raised in March 2025 and formally received by the intelligence community inspector general hotline in May. It alleged that the distribution of a highly classified intelligence report was improperly restricted and that an intelligence community lawyer failed to report a potential crime to the Justice Department for political reasons. Despite precedent that such complaints are typically sent to Congress within weeks, lawmakers did not receive it until this week.
Inspector General of the Intelligence Community Christopher Fox wrote in a letter to congressional intelligence committees that acting inspector general Tamara Johnson found the first allegation not credible and could not assess the second. Fox said that had he reviewed the complaint initially, he would not have flagged it as urgent. He cited a government shutdown, staff turnover, and legal complexity as reasons for the delayed transmission, noting that the White House also reviewed the complaint for possible executive privilege.
The delay has triggered sharply divided reactions in Washington. Whistleblower attorney Andrew Bakaj argues Gabbard failed to meet a legal obligation to provide guidance on how the whistleblower could lawfully brief Congress. Bakaj said plans are now moving forward to provide an unclassified briefing to the intelligence committees.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton dismissed the complaint as an effort to undermine the administration, saying both inspectors general agreed it was not credible and that the DNI handled the matter appropriately. Democratic Senator Mark Warner has taken the opposite view, accusing the administration of burying the complaint and pointing to a statutory 21-day deadline for transmitting whistleblower disclosures to Congress.
