A highly classified whistleblower complaint against Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is tied to an intercepted conversation between two foreign nationals who discussed Jared Kushner, The Wall Street Journal reported.
According to the Journal, which cited U.S. officials familiar with the matter, the conversation was collected last spring by the National Security Agency. It was not clear which country the foreign nationals were from or what they said about Kushner. Senior Trump administration officials told the newspaper the claims discussed in the conversation were demonstrably false but declined to provide details, citing the sensitivity of the intelligence.
The complaint was stalled within Gabbard’s office for eight months before being delivered to Congress last week in heavily redacted form, the Journal reported. Lawmakers were permitted to review it in a secure setting on a “read-and-return” basis.
The complaint alleges that Gabbard limited the sharing of intelligence related to the intercepted conversation for political reasons. It also alleges that the NSA’s general counsel’s office failed to refer a potential crime to the Justice Department. A senior administration official told the Journal that a career official determined a referral was unnecessary because the allegations lacked merit. The intelligence community’s inspector general did not determine whether that allegation was credible.
A spokeswoman for Gabbard described the claims as “baseless and politically motivated” and said a former acting inspector general deemed the allegations about her not credible.
Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, has been involved in several diplomatic initiatives, including efforts related to Gaza, Ukraine and Iran. He is serving as a volunteer adviser and does not hold a formal government position.
Sen. Tom Cotton, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told the Journal the complaint was not credible and was handled appropriately. Sen. Mark Warner, the committee’s top Democrat, said the heavy redactions made it difficult to assess its merits and that he is seeking access to an unredacted version.
In a letter cited by the Journal, the whistleblower’s attorney, Andrew Bakaj, accused Gabbard of obstructing his client’s ability to communicate directly with congressional intelligence committees. Gabbard’s spokeswoman said her actions were “fully within her legal and statutory authority.”