Tulsi Gabbard responds to senator’s criticism over handling of whistleblower complaint

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard responded to criticism from Sen. Mark Warner and others that she “covered up” a whistleblower complaint.

“Senator Mark Warner and his friends in the propaganda media have repeatedly lied to the American people that I or ODNI ‘hid’ a whistleblower complaint in a safe for eight months,” Gabbard said in a post on X. “This is a blatant lie.”

A U.S. intelligence official alleged wrongdoing by Gabbard in the handling of a whistleblower complaint filed with the Intelligence Community Inspector General in 2025, according to the official’s lawyer and Gabbard’s office. The official’s lawyer, Andrew Bakaj, said the complaint was filed with the Intelligence Community Inspector General in May and the whistleblower requested in June to share his complaint with lawmakers.

Warner, D-Va., is the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He told NBC News on Thursday that Congress only received the complaint in February and “much of it was redacted.”

The senator said the months-long delay in sharing the complaint with lawmakers showed that Gabbard was “either not competent to do the job or was told by her legal advisors that she did not have competent legal counsel.”

“It was, again, a complete avoidance and I think it was an effort to try to bury this whistleblower complaint,” Warner said.

Gabbard responded to the criticism in a lengthy post Saturday, writing that she is not and has never been in possession or control of the complaint. She said the inspector general “has had possession of the complaint and been responsible for securing it for months.”

Gabbard said the first time she saw the complaint was two weeks ago, “when I had to review it to provide guidance on how it should be shared securely with Congress.”

She said the complaint “contains baseless allegations” but nevertheless should be kept in a safe, like all whistleblower complaints because it contains “highly classified and compartmentalized information.”

Gabbard then laid out a timeline in her post, writing that she first became aware of the complaint filed against her in June, but that neither former Inspector General Tamara Johnson nor current Inspector General Christopher Fox — who took office on Oct. 7 — found it credible.

Olivia Coleman, press secretary for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, confirmed in an email to NBC News that the two inspectors general “did not find the complaint credible.”

Gabbard said that although she communicated with Inspector General Johnson during the investigation, she was not informed that the whistleblower wanted to show the complaint to Congress and therefore did not provide security instructions to do so.

Gabbard said she was “made aware of the need to provide security guidance” by Inspector General Fox on December 4.

“I took immediate action to provide security advice to the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, who then shared the complaint and referenced the intelligence with the relevant Members of Congress last week,” Gabbard wrote in her message.

“Senator Warner’s decision to spread lies and baseless accusations over months for political purposes undermines our national security and is a disservice to the American people and the intelligence community,” the message continued.

Rachel Cohen, Warner’s communications director, told NBC News in an emailed statement Saturday that Gabbard’s post is “an inaccurate attack that is entirely the hallmark of someone who has already and repeatedly proven she is not qualified to serve as DNI.”

Bakaj on Monday accused Gabbard of trying to hide the complaint from Congress.

“After nearly eight months of taking illegal steps to protect herself, the time has come for Tulsi Gabbard to comply with the law and fully disclose this information to Congress,” Bakaj said in a statement released by Whistle Blower Aid, a nonprofit group representing government and private sector employees seeking to uncover wrongdoing.

Coleman has denied any wrongdoing by the director of national intelligence, writing in an article Monday that the whistleblower was a “politically motivated individual.”

Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., who chairs the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said in an article Tuesday that he agreed with the inspector general’s findings that the complaint was not credible.

“The ensuing media storm, fueled by speculation and little fact, was an attempt to smear @DNIGabbard and the Trump administration,” Crawford wrote.