DNI Gabbard Releases Declassified Testimony Alleging Intelligence Community Misconduct in Trump’s First Impeachment

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has released newly declassified testimony that she claims reveals a “coordinated effort” by the intelligence community to “manufacture a conspiracy” that formed the basis of President Donald Trump’s first impeachment.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Monday released two declassified transcripts from closed-door House Intelligence Committee hearings. According to Gabbard’s office, these documents show that former Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson advanced a whistleblower complaint based on secondhand information from an individual who had previously worked with then-Vice President Joe Biden in Ukraine.

Gabbard’s office alleges that Atkinson’s actions “weaponize[d] the whistleblower process and exceed[ed] his statutory jurisdiction,” claiming he “did not follow standard IG procedures and relied upon politicized, manufactured narratives” during his investigation.

The released transcripts reveal that Atkinson’s investigation ultimately helped trigger Trump’s first impeachment by deeming “credible” a whistleblower complaint regarding a July 2019 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

According to the declassified testimony, Atkinson was aware that the primary whistleblower was a “registered Democrat” who had alerted staff on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence before submitting their “Disclosure of Urgent Concern” form. The whistleblower also reportedly admitted having “worked closely with Vice President Biden” and “travelled with Biden to Ukraine and was part of conversations where LUTSENKO corruption was discussed.”

Yuriy Lutsenko served as Ukraine’s prosecutor general from 2016 to 2019 and inherited and closed the Burisma investigation. According to previous reporting, Lutsenko was subsequently courted by Hunter Biden-linked lobbyists seeking to facilitate connections between the Ukrainian government and Democratic political circles.

Gabbard’s office highlighted that on the initial form submitted by the whistleblower, they admitted, “I do not have direct knowledge of private comments or communications” by Trump. However, whistleblower laws do not require first-hand information, according to the National Whistleblower Center.

“In his own words, IC IG Atkinson recognizes that his conclusions were based on a ‘preliminary investigation,’ noting that ‘I haven’t done an investigation to determine whether they actually, in fact, took place … that all of the alleged actions actually took place,'” the statement from Gabbard’s office noted.

Federal law does specify that the inspector general’s preliminary role is to determine whether a whistleblower complaint “appears credible,” rather than to fully investigate or substantiate the underlying allegations. Atkinson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Gabbard also accused Atkinson of ignoring potential bias, quoting testimony in which he stated, “I also want to make it clear that I never considered the whistleblower to be politically biased.”

The DNI, herself a former Democrat, further alleged that one of the “key” witnesses Atkinson relied on to corroborate the whistleblower’s report during his preliminary investigation was also a co-author of the controversial 2017 intelligence community assessment on Russian collusion, which Gabbard has previously claimed was instigated at the direction of former President Barack Obama.

“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,” Gabbard said in her statement. “And this, along with the politicization of the whistleblower process by a former CIA employee who was working hand in glove with Democrats in Congress, are egregious examples of the deep state playbook on how to weaponize the Intelligence Community.”

Democratic lawmakers have largely dismissed Gabbard’s disclosures. Senator Mark Warner, the ranking member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told Politico’s NatSec Daily newsletter: “This is a nothingburger — just another sad attempt by Tulsi Gabbard to get in Donald Trump’s good graces.”

Representative Jim Himes, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, also criticized the declassification, writing on X: “Everyone can read the transcript of Trump’s phone call to extort President Zelenskyy for dirt on Biden. That was an impeachable offense, and no amount of dust kicking and sycophancy can obscure it. Had Joe Biden made that call, Republicans would have burned the place down.”

The declassification represents the latest chapter in the ongoing political fallout from Trump’s first impeachment, which continues to divide lawmakers along partisan lines nearly four years after the events in question.