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WASHINGTON (AP) — The general counsel for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Monday warned the attorney for an anonymous government employee not to directly share a top-secret complaint about Gabbard’s handling of classified material with members of Congress.
The letter to attorney Andrew Bakaj is the latest escalation in the back-and-forth accusations over the classified complaint, which alleges that Gabbard withheld top-secret material for political reasons.
Two inspectors general for the intelligence community reviewed the claim and found that particular allegation did not appear to be credible. Gabbard has denied any wrongdoing and said she did all she could to ensure the report reached Congress.
Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees have blasted Gabbard’s office over the handling of the complaint, questioning why it took eight months for it to be sent to select members of Congress as required by law.
Here’s what to know about the complaint and the next steps:
What is known about the complaint
The anonymous author of the complaint works for a U.S. intelligence agency and in May filed a report claiming that Gabbard withheld classified information for political reasons. Gabbard oversees the coordination of 18 intelligence agencies.
The complaint made two allegations, according to a memo sent to lawmakers by the current inspector general, Christopher Fox: The first is that the “distribution of a highly classified intelligence report was restricted for political purposes,” while the second accuses Gabbard’s general counsel of failing to report a potential crime to the Justice Department.
In June, the inspector general at the time, Tamara Johnson, found that the claim Gabbard distributed classified information along political lines did not appear to be credible, Fox said in the memo to lawmakers. Johnson was “unable to assess the apparent credibility” of the accusation about the general counsel’s office, Fox wrote.
The watchdog said he would have deemed the complaint non-urgent, meaning it never would have been referred to lawmakers.
“If the same or similar matter came before me today, I would likely determine that the allegations do not meet the statutory definition of ‘urgent concern,’” Fox wrote.
The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and other news outlets reported that the complaint stemmed from a call between two foreign nationals that mentioned someone close to President Donald Trump and was intercepted by the National Security Agency. The news reports, which cited anonymous sources, said the discussion involved Iran and that Gabbard notified the White House personally, while the complaint accused her of blocking the NSA from reporting the interaction to other agencies. The AP could not immediately confirm the reports.
The NSA declined to offer details about the complaint Monday, saying in a statement that it works closely with the FBI and others to investigate the mishandling or disclosure of classified information.
Gabbard’s office warns attorney
Bakaj, a former CIA officer and an attorney for the person making the complaint, offered to meet with certain lawmakers or their staffs to discuss the allegations and his concerns about Gabbard’s review.
ODNI’s general counsel warned against that in its letter Monday, noting that Bakaj or his client could face criminal charges if they improperly revealed classified material during the briefing.
“The highly classified nature of the underlying complaint increases the risk that you or your client inadvertently or otherwise breaks the law by divulging or mishandling classified information,” the general counsel’s office wrote. “You may have other means of appearing in front of Congress, but this is not it.”
Following the memo from the general counsel, Bakaj sent his own letter to the heads of the House and Senate intelligence committees, saying he has asked Gabbard’s office for direction on how his client may contact lawmakers to share their concerns.
“We are in the process of further engaging with the DNI to continue to seek guidance, and would certainly welcome the committee’s cooperation in requesting the DNI to substantively respond,” Bakaj wrote in the letter.
Under federal law, intelligence whistleblowers are entitled to ask to refer their complaints directly to key lawmakers even if the inspector general finds them non-credible, so long as they deem the allegations urgent. That determination was made by the original watchdog, but the complaint didn’t reach lawmakers until last week.
The process of delivering the top-secret complaint began last week when it was hand-delivered to the “Gang of Eight” — a group comprised of the House and Senate leaders from both parties as well as the four top lawmakers on the House and Senate intelligence committees.
An additional meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday for any members of the Gang of Eight who haven’t yet seen the complaint.
Democrats decry delay as GOP backs Gabbard
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he will push Gabbard for more answers about the underlying complaint and why it took so long to get the report to lawmakers.
The number of redactions make it hard to evaluate the allegations, he said.
“The fact that this sat out there for six, seven, eight months now and we are only seeing it now, raises huge concerns in and of itself,” Warner said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
The Republicans who lead the intelligence committees are backing Gabbard, making it less likely the panels take further steps to investigate the complaint.
“It seemed like an effort by the president’s critics to undermine him,” Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s chairman, wrote Saturday on X.
Intelligence chief responds to critics
Gabbard noted in a lengthy social media post Saturday that Johnson was appointed interim inspector general for the intelligence community during President Joe Biden’s administration.
She included a detailed timeline that she said shows she acted quickly to ensure the complaint reached Congress. Gabbard wrote that she was aware of the complaint in June and believed the investigation had ended after it was found non-credible, only for the inspector general’s office to inform her in December that the complaint had to be reviewed, redacted and sent to members of 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,” Gabbard wrote.
She also accused Warner and the media of trying to use the complaint to smear her name.
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