Attorney says Gabbard is holding up a complaint about her actions, which
her office denies
[February 03, 2026]
By DAVID KLEPPER
WASHINGTON (AP) — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has
withheld a complaint made about her conduct from members of Congress for
eight months, claiming the delay is needed for a legal review, an
attorney for the person making the allegations said Monday.
The complaint was reviewed by the office of the intelligence community's
inspector general, which deemed it not credible, Gabbard's office said.
The person then sought to have the complaint referred to members of
Congress' intelligence committees, as is permitted by federal law, but
that has not occurred.
Andrew Bakaj, the attorney for the person who made the complaint, said
he could not identify his client, their employer or offer specifics
about the allegations because of the nature of their work. But he said
there's no justification for keeping the complaint from Congress since
last spring.
There was no delay in getting the complaint to members of the
intelligence committees, Gabbard’s press secretary Olivia Coleman said,
though she added that the number of classified details in the complaint
made the review process “substantially more difficult.”
Gabbard's office disputed the claims, which were first reported by The
Wall Street Journal. Coleman noted that the inspector general who deemed
the complaint non-credible wasn't selected by Gabbard and began their
work during then-President Joe Biden's administration.
“Director Gabbard has always and will continue to support
whistleblower’s and their right, under the law, to submit complaints to
Congress, even if they are completely baseless like this one,” Coleman
wrote in a post on X.
Gabbard coordinates the work of the nation’s 18 intelligence agencies.
In an unusual role for a spy chief, she was on site last week when the
FBI served a search warrant on election offices in Georgia central to
Trump’s disproven claims about fraud in the 2020 election, raising
questions from Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence
committees.
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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard enters the Fulton
County Election HUB as the FBI takes Fulton County 2020 Election
ballots, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Union City, Ga., near Atlanta.
(AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Bakaj, meanwhile, has asked Congress to investigate the handling of
the complaint.
A spokesperson for Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on
the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Gabbard pledged under oath
during her confirmation hearing that she would protect
whistleblowers and make sure Congress was kept informed.
“We expect her to honor those commitments and comply with both the
letter and the spirit of the law,” Warner's office said in a
statement.
The inspector general's office, which is tasked with providing
independent oversight of the intelligence community, did not
immediately respond to questions about the complaint.
A former intelligence officer with the CIA, Bakaj previously
represented an intelligence community whistleblower whose account of
a phone call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President
Volodomyr Zelenskyy helped initiate the first of two impeachment
cases against the Republican leader during his first team.
Trump was impeached by the House but acquitted by the Senate in
February 2020 over the call during which he asked the Ukrainian
president for a “favor” — to announce he was investigating Democrats
including 2020 rival Joe Biden.
___
Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
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