Tulsi Gabbard in FBI Raid Storm — Georgia Election Hub Sparks National Alarm

United States Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is facing national criticism over her involvement in the Fulton County FBI raid on Wednesday. The raid was conducted to retrieve ballots from the 2020 presidential elections, which US President Donald Trump claimed were fraudulent.

According to a report by NBC News, Gabbard surprised national security experts when she showed up as FBI agents seized 2020 election documents from Fulton County, raising suspicions that she was attempting to revive her place in the government, which had lost confidence in her.

A former national security officer told NBC News, 'Even if there was some criminal activity in the 2020 election in Georgia — despite repeated investigations that show there was none — it's still a purely domestic problem — not one involving foreign nations. The director of national intelligence has nothing to do with this.'​

Gabbard's Scope vs Domestic Law Enforcement

The job of the Chief of US intelligence involves monitoring foreign threats, including overseeing the spy agencies of the country. She is, however, prohibited from participating in domestic law enforcement.​

In an exclusive report by The Guardian, Virginia senator Mark Warner said Gabbard was 'totally unqualified' to be appointed director of the United States National Intelligence, and that her recent appearance in Georgia during a federal raid is evidence of that. Warner called her presence a 'domestic political stunt designed to legitimize conspiracy theories that undermine our democracy,' and that it 'represents a serious breach of trust and a dereliction of duty to the solemn office which she holds.'

Warner said to the Guardian that Gabbard 'believes there was a legitimate foreign intelligence nexus – in which case she is in clear violation of her obligation under the law to keep the intelligence committees 'fully and currently informed' of relevant national security concerns – or she is once again demonstrating her utter lack of fitness for office that she holds by injecting the nonpartisan intelligence community she is supposed to be leading into a domestic political stunt designed to legitimize conspiracy theories that undermine our democracy.'

On the contrary, a senior administration official whose identity is kept anonymous told CNN that Gabbard's involvement in Georgia could be justified because she 'has a pivotal role in election security and protecting the integrity of our elections against interference, including operations targeting voting systems, databases, & election infrastructure. She has & will continue to take action on President Trump's directive to secure our elections & work with our interagency partners to do so.'

Gabbard's FBI Raid Involvement

Gabbard has not made her intentions regarding involvement in the raid clear, but reports that she is seeking to re-examine the 2020 presidential election results on Trump's behalf are surfacing. If true, this clearly falls outside of her scope. Gabbard's office said at the Fulton County elections office that a statement would be given Wednesday evening, but that never took place.

California Representative Joaquin Castro has called for Gabbard to provide an explanation regarding her presence during the raid, where she was photographed in the middle of the moving trucks used to carry the boxes containing the election documents. He told CNN, 'It's extremely unusual that the DNI [Director of National Intelligence] would be present for this type of domestic operation, and it's something that the intelligence committee should investigate right away, should exercise its oversight power and bring Tulsi Gabbard in to the committee to explain exactly what happened.'​

When asked about Gabbard's involvement in the FBI raid at the Kennedy Center, US President Donald Trump said, 'She's working very hard on trying to keep the elections safe, and she's done a very good job. You got a signed judge's order in Georgia, and you're going to see some interesting things happening. They've been trying to get there for a long time.'