Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Monday declassified and released documents she says show that officials within the Intelligence Community mishandled and politicized a whistleblower complaint that ultimately led to President Donald Trump’s first impeachment in 2019.
According to Gabbard, the newly released records allege that what she described as “deep state actors” collaborated with then–House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to advance what she called a “false narrative” surrounding the whistleblower complaint.
In a statement accompanying the release, Gabbard accused Schiff and Pelosi of withholding transcripts of closed-door congressional testimony from former Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson—records she said would have undercut claims of Trump-Russia collusion dating back to 2017.
Gabbard said those transcripts were kept from the House Judiciary Committee until March 24, 2026, when they were released following a forced vote led by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rich Crawford.
The declassified documents, Gabbard said, show that Atkinson departed from standard inspector general investigative procedures and relied on what she characterized as politicized and manufactured narratives when handling the whistleblower complaint tied to Trump’s July 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to the records, Atkinson’s preliminary inquiry involved interviews with only four individuals: the whistleblower, a friend of the whistleblower who assisted in authoring the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment on Russia and was an associate of former FBI agent Peter Strzok, and two character references who lacked firsthand knowledge of the Trump-Zelensky call.
The documents further state that the whistleblower acknowledged having no direct, firsthand knowledge of the call. One quoted statement attributed to the whistleblower reads, “I do not have direct knowledge of private comments or communications by the President.”
Gabbard said the records show that no formal or complete investigation was conducted before the complaint was transmitted to Congress. Despite lacking firsthand evidence, she alleged that Atkinson moved forward in a way that exceeded his statutory authority and “weaponized” the whistleblower process.
By disregarding guidance from the Department of Justice and relying on secondhand information, Gabbard said Atkinson facilitated the complaint’s transmission to Congress, its referral to the FBI, and its eventual leak to the media.
Gabbard argued that Schiff and Pelosi then used the secondhand allegations to drive media coverage and lay the groundwork for Trump’s impeachment by the House in December 2019.
“The politicization of the whistleblower process by a former CIA employee who was working hand in glove with Democrats in Congress (is an egregious example) of the deep state playbook on how to weaponize the Intelligence Community,” Gabbard said.
“Exposing these tactics and showing how they undermine the fabric of our democratic republic furthers the critical cause of transparency and accountability and will help prevent future abuse of power,” she continued.
