TLDR:
- Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard says the 2019 Ukraine impeachment was built on a deeply flawed, four-witness investigation
- The intelligence community’s inspector general ignored DOJ guidance and relied entirely on secondhand testimony, Gabbard says
- Newly declassified material reveals the CIA whistleblower misled investigators about coordinating with Democrats before filing his complaint
- Democrats are eyeing a potential third impeachment of Trump if they retake the House in November
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Monday accused congressional Democrats of impeaching President Trump in 2019 based on a rigged investigation — and she has newly declassified documents to back it up.
“Deep-state actors within the Intelligence Community concocted a false narrative that was used by Congress to usurp the will of the American people and impeach the duly-elected president of the United States,” Ms. Gabbard said.
At the center of her broadside is Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson, whose 2019 investigation, Ms. Gabbard says, interviewed only four people — the CIA whistleblower, a friend of the whistleblower, and two “character references” — while ignoring any evidence favorable to Mr. Trump.
Ms. Gabbard says Mr. Atkinson proceeded despite his own whistleblower’s supervisor warning the process was being rushed, and despite the Department of Justice telling him the matter didn’t rise to the level requiring congressional referral. Mr. Atkinson sent it to House Democrats anyway.
The whistleblower — later publicly identified as Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman — had also misled investigators about contacting Congress before officially filing his complaint, according to Ms. Gabbard’s declassified files.
The revelations land as Democrats are actively considering a third impeachment push against Mr. Trump if they win back the House in November. Mr. Trump was acquitted by the Republican-led Senate in both prior impeachment trials.
Read more:
• Intel chief Tulsi Gabbard says Democrats’ 2019 impeachment of Trump based on ’concocted’ evidence
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