Top Democrats on the Senate and House intelligence committees are calling on U.S. President Donald Trump’s chief intelligence officer to explain her presence at an FBI raid on an election facility in Georgia, raising concerns about the boundaries of domestic and foreign intelligence operations.
Senator Mark Warner, D-Va., and Representative Jim Himes, D-Conn., sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard on Thursday expressing deep unease over her attendance at Wednesday’s FBI operation. “The U.S. intelligence community should be focused on foreign threats,” they wrote. “When those authorities are turned inwards, the results can be devastating” for civil liberties and privacy.
Gabbard’s press secretary, Olivia Coleman, defended the DNI’s involvement, emphasizing that the office plays a “vital role in identifying vulnerabilities in our critical infrastructure and protecting against exploitation.” Coleman noted that electronic voting systems have historically been vulnerable to exploitation, citing both intelligence and public reporting.
However, legal experts and former officials say that Gabbard’s participation in a domestic law enforcement action is highly unusual. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) primarily oversees intelligence gathering abroad and safeguarding national security from foreign threats.
“The DNI has authorities set out by statute, and they don’t include investigating past elections for potential fraud,” said Robert Litt, who served as ODNI’s top lawyer from 2009 to 2017. “There’s absolutely no reason for taxpayer money to be used for her to go down to Georgia.”
Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, was present when the FBI executed a warrant at the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center in Union City, Georgia. The facility, a large warehouse-like building opened in 2023, was raided as part of a probe into records related to the 2020 elections—a move tied to Trump’s repeated, unfounded claims that he lost the election due to widespread fraud.
The FBI described the operation as a “court-authorized law enforcement activity,” while Fulton County officials confirmed that the warrant sought records associated with the 2020 vote. A law enforcement official familiar with the raid, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the FBI did not know why Gabbard attended or what role she played. “There is literally nothing for her to do except watch the trucks get loaded,” the official said, calling the trip an expensive “photo op.”
The seized ballots and file boxes were transported late Wednesday to an FBI facility in Winchester, Virginia, where Gabbard does not have access.
Gabbard has previously overseen investigations into election security and foreign threats to U.S. elections. She reportedly briefed Trump on August 26 last year about documents related to the 2020 election stored in what he called “burn bags.” “I will be the first to brief you once we have that information collected,” she told the president.
There is no publicly available evidence that the FBI raid was conducted in response to a foreign intelligence threat, despite Trump’s repeated posts on Truth Social suggesting foreign manipulation of the 2020 vote.
In their letter, Warner and Himes stressed that any federal efforts to counter foreign election threats must be transparent to the public and the congressional intelligence committees. They also questioned Gabbard’s previous actions, including her scrutiny of a 2017 assessment that Russia sought to influence the 2016 election, and her dismantling of a congressional intelligence unit tasked with exposing foreign influence operations.
“Your recent actions raise foundational questions about the current mission of your office,” the lawmakers wrote. “It is critical that you brief the committees immediately as part of your obligation to keep Congress fully and currently informed.”
As the controversy unfolds, Gabbard faces scrutiny from lawmakers, legal experts, and civil liberties advocates over whether her involvement in the Georgia raid crossed statutory and constitutional lines.
