WASHINGTON — U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard appeared before the U.S. Senate Committee on Intelligence on Wednesday.
She spoke for the first time about her part in the FBI raid on the Fulton County elections hub. Gabbard said President Donald Trump called her that day and told her to go.
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Georgia U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff grilled Gabbard during the hearing.
“The president stated, quote, ‘You looked at votes that wanted to be checked out.’ Did you look at votes as the president stated?” Ossoff asked.
Federal agents seized 700 boxes of 2020 election ballots during that January raid. Vice Chairman and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner questioned why Gabbard was there when elections don’t fall under the purview of national intelligence.
“I was at Fulton County, sir, at the request of the president and to work with the FBI to observe this action that had long been awaited. I was not aware of what was in the warrant or was not in the warrants.”
“And what was the president’s specific request for you to go? What was the specific request that was made by the president for you to show up in Fulton County?”
“To go and observe the FBI’s activities on the issue,” Gabbard said.
Gabbard told Ossoff that she got a call from Trump the day of the raid ordering her to go.
Fulton County is fighting in court to get those seized ballots back from the U.S. Department of Justice. A court-ordered mediation between the two failed this week. Now, a judge will have to decide.
Ossoff pressed Gabbard again as to why she was there at all.
“Is it your role to oversee the execution of criminal warrants?” he asked.
“It is my role based on statue that Congress has passed to have oversight over election security to include counterintelligence,” Gabbard responded.
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