© New York Post/KJN White House Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt
In the spring of 2025, the National Security Agency allegedly detected evidence of a call between a person close to President Donald Trump and an individual associated with foreign intelligence, according to a whistleblower.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, rather than let the NSA distribute information about its evidence, allegedly took a paper copy of the intelligence to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, then told the NSA not to publish its intelligence report. Instead, Gabbard allegedly instructed officials to transmit the details directly to her office, the whistleblower's lawyer, Andrew Bakaj, told The Guardian.
The allegations, which Gabbard's office strongly denies, are part of a standoff between the whistleblower, who alleges intelligence officials have slow-walked the disclosure of their complaint, and Trump administration intelligence officials, who allege they have followed the law in handling the highly sensitive claims.
"This story is false," a spokesperson for Gabbard's office said in response to the Guardian report.
"Every single action taken by DNI Gabbard was fully within her legal and statutory authority, and these politically motivated attempts to manipulate highly classified information undermine the essential national security work being done by great Americans in the Intelligence Community every day."Referring to past news reports that the whistleblower complaint was being kept under lock and key, Gabbard wrote in a statement on X on Saturday:
"I am not now, nor have I ever been, in possession or control of the Whistleblower's complaint, so I obviously could not have 'hidden' it in a safe. Biden-era IC Inspector General Tamara Johnson was in possession of and responsible for securing the complaint for months.
"The first time I saw the whistleblower complaint was 2 weeks ago when I had to review it to provide guidance on how it should be securely shared with Congress."
© ReutersWhistleblower alleges DNI Gabbard stymied evidence distribution of a potential phone call between Trump ally and potential foreign intel person, Trump admin fervently denies.
The Independent has contacted the White House and NSA for comment.
In May of last year, the intelligence community inspector general hotline received a whistleblower complaint alleging that "distribution of a highly classified intelligence report" was restricted and that an intelligence community lawyer failed to "report a potential crime" to the Justice Department, both for "political purposes," according to a letter sent to lawmakers on the congressional intelligence committees this week.
The complaint, first raised in March of 2025, was not shared with Congress until this week, despite precedent that such allegations are usually transmitted to lawmakers within weeks.
After receiving the complaint, the acting inspector general at the time, Tamara Johnson, determined that the first allegation didn't appear credible and was unable to assess the credibility of the second allegation, according to the letter from Inspector General of the Intelligence Community Christopher Fox, which was also published on X.
© APWhistleblower alleges Trump administration officials have slow-walked their complaint, holding up their ability to brief Congress.
In the letter, Fox wrote that had he reviewed the original complaint himself to start, he wouldn't have flagged it as urgent. He added that the government shutdown, staff turnover, and the legal complexity of the allegations prompted the slower-than-usual release to Congress.
The complaint has provoked a spectrum of reactions in Washington.
Bakaj, the whistleblower lawyer, alleges that Gabbard has failed to meet a legal mandate to give the whistleblower legal guidance on disclosing information to the congressional intelligence committees, one of the options available to whistleblowers.
© APDNI Tulsi Gabbard • Charlie Kirk Memorial
Reaction has split along partisan lines.
Sen. Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, wrote on X:
"I have reviewed this 'whistleblower' complaint and the inspector general handling of it. The allegations are another effort by the president's critics in and out of government to undermine policies that they don't like.Sen. Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, has alleged the delays in transmitting the allegations are an effort to "bury the complaint." He said at a Thursday press conference.
"I agree with both inspectors general who have evaluated the matter: the complaint is not credible and the inspectors general and the DNI took the necessary steps to ensure the material has handled and transmitted appropriately in accordance with law."
"The law is clear: when a whistleblower makes a complaint and wants to get it before Congress the agency has 21 days to relay it. This whistleblower complaint was issued in May. We didn't receive it until February."
DNI Tulsi Gabbard@DNIGabbard - as posted on X
Senator Mark Warner and his friends in the Propaganda Media have repeatedly lied to the American people that I or the ODNI "hid" a whistleblower complaint in a safe for eight months. This is a blatant lie.
The truth:
- I am not now, nor have I ever been, in possession or control of the Whistleblower's complaint, so I obviously could not have "hidden" it in a safe. Biden-era IC Inspector General Tamara Johnson was in possession of and responsible for securing the complaint for months.
- The first time I saw the whistleblower complaint was 2 weeks ago when I had to review it to provide guidance on how it should be securely shared with Congress.
- As Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Warner knows very well that whistleblower complaints that contain highly classified and compartmented intelligence — even if they contain baseless allegations like this one — must be secured in a safe, which the Biden-era Inspector General Tamara Johnson did and her successor, Inspector General Chris Fox, continued to do. After IC Inspector General Fox hand-delivered the complaint to the Gang of 8, the complaint was returned to a safe where it remains, consistent with any information of such sensitivity.
- Either Senator Warner knows these facts and is intentionally lying to the American people, or he doesn't have a clue how these things work and is therefore not qualified to be in the U.S. Senate — and certainly not the Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Here is a detailed chronology of the situation:
- June 2025, I became aware that a whistleblower made a complaint against me that after further investigation, neither Biden-era IC Inspector General Tamara Johnson nor current IC Inspector General Chris Fox found the complaint to be credible.
- The complaint required special handling and storage in a safe because the complainant chose to include highly sensitive information within the complaint itself rather than referencing the sensitive reporting and leaving the complaint at a lower level of classification.
- Security standards for complaints that include such sensitive intelligence required the Inspector General to keep the complaint and the intelligence referenced secured in a safe from the time the complaint was made, until now.
- In June 2025 after Biden-era Inspector General Tamara Johnson completed her review of the complaint, no further oversight or investigative activity took place.
- Biden-era Inspector General Johnson had communicated with me directly throughout the course of her investigation into this complaint, yet neither she nor anyone from her office informed me that the Whistleblower chose to send the complaint to Congress which would require me to issue security instructions.
- When a complaint is not found to be credible, there is no timeline under the law for the provision of security guidance. The "21 day" requirement that Senator Warner alleges I did not comply with, only applies when a complaint is determined by the Inspector General to be both urgent AND apparently credible. That was NOT the case here.
- I was made aware of the need to provide security guidance by IC Inspector General Chris Fox on December 4, 2025, which he detailed in his letter to Congress.
- I took immediate action to provide the security guidance to the Intelligence Community Inspector General who then shared the complaint and referenced intelligence with relevant members of Congress last week.
Senator Warner's decision to spread lies and baseless accusations over the months for political gain, undermines our national security and is a disservice to the American people and the Intelligence Community.
Last edited 3:06 PM · Feb 7, 2026·2.4M Views
That means there is a "deep state" functioning in the USA government now. Is it working to undermine the Trump admin and to create negative press? Of course. What does it mean? Don't be emotionally triggered especially by Politically charged claims like Warner.
As Gabbard stated, "June 2025, I became aware that a whistleblower made a complaint against me that after further investigation, neither Biden-era IC Inspector General Tamara Johnson nor current IC Inspector General Chris Fox found the complaint to be credible."