Watchdog shares whistleblower complaint involving Gabbard with Congress after delay

An quality assemblage watchdog has handed implicit a highly classified whistleblower ailment that includes an allegation of wrongdoing by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to apical legislature leaders, pursuing months of hold tied to classification disputes, a authorities shutdown, and enactment turnover astatine Gabbard's office, CBS News has learned.

In a Feb. 2 missive to the leaders of the House and Senate quality committees, quality assemblage Inspector General Christopher Fox said helium received last support connected Jan. 30 from Gabbard to stock the worldly with a choky ellipse of lawmakers. The ailment had primitively been filed 8 months earlier, connected May 21, 2025.

According to Fox's letter, which was labeled arsenic approved for nationalist merchandise connected Feb. 3 and obtained by CBS News, the ailment was "administratively closed" by the quality assemblage Inspector General's bureau successful June 2025, nether anterior leadership, and nary further investigative steps were taken – a information Fox said undercut notions that the substance was an "urgent concern" requiring punctual legislature notification. 

"[I]f the aforesaid oregon akin substance came earlier maine today, I would apt find that the allegations bash not conscionable the statutory explanation of 'urgent concern,'" Fox wrote. 

Fox hand-carried the highly classified ailment to Congress connected Monday evening, according to a spokesperson for his office. During that engagement, respective members and unit of the Gang of Eight — the tiny radical of legislature leaders who oversee the quality assemblage —  reviewed the ailment connected a "read-and-return" basis. They besides received copies of erstwhile Acting quality assemblage Inspector General Tamara Johnson's archetypal and supplemental determination memos, the spokesperson said.

The whistleblower complaint, filed past May by an quality assemblage employee, alleged that a highly classified study was deliberately constricted successful organisation for governmental reasons. It besides alleged that an quality agency's ineligible bureau failed to notation a imaginable transgression to the Justice Department, again for governmental reasons, according to Fox's letter. 

The handover of the ailment comes 1 time aft nationalist quality reports revealed its existence, archetypal elaborate by The Wall Street Journal. News of the holdup sparked contiguous questions astir whether governmental considerations delayed enactment and sidestepped oversight of a legally protected whistleblower ailment involving the nation's apical quality official. 

In a statement, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford, an Arkansas Republican, said helium and Ranking Member Jim Himes had, on with staff, reviewed the complaint. 

"After doing so, I concur with the decision that the Biden-era IC IG, Tamara Johnson, reached regarding the non-credible quality of the ailment and the re-review that the existent IC IG, Chris Fox, conducted, reaching the aforesaid conclusion," Crawford said. "The ensuing media firestorm—fed by speculation and small fact—was an effort to smear Director Gabbard and the Trump Administration." 

Speaking earlier successful the time to the press, Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner said helium would presumption the ailment "imminently" and criticized Gabbard for the months-long delay. 

Rachel Cohen, a spokesperson for Warner's office, added, "This timeline makes unmistakably wide that Director Gabbard does not recognize the basal obligations of her relation – the predictable effect of placing idiosyncratic retired of her extent successful 1 of the nation's astir delicate positions." 

"During her confirmation hearing, Director Gabbard pledged nether oath to support whistleblowers and respect Congress's oversight role, commitments that travel with this bureau whether she understands them oregon not," she said.

Spokespeople for Himes and Senate Intelligence Committee president Tom Cotton declined to comment. 

Fox, who was nominated by President Trump and antecedently served arsenic an adjutant to Gabbard, was narrowly confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate to his relation successful a 51-47 ballot divided on enactment lines successful precocious October. His predecessor, Tamara Johnson, was a vocation authoritative who had served arsenic the quality assemblage acting inspector wide successful an interim relation during the Biden administration. She is inactive employed by the inspector general's office.

At the clip the ailment was submitted, Johnson determined that the ailment met the ineligible explanation of an "urgent concern" if the allegations were true, but said she could not find whether they were credible. 

That determination gave the whistleblower the close nether national instrumentality to instrumentality the ailment straight to Congress.

Three days later, aft receiving further information, Johnson issued a follow-up memo concluding that the archetypal allegation was not credible and that she inactive could not measure the second. (The aboriginal uncovering did not alteration the whistleblower's ineligible close to notify Congress.)

According to the timeline Fox acceptable distant successful the letter, the ailment sat for months portion his bureau sought clearance for ineligible officials wrong the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to presumption the highly classified material. Other reasons for the  delay, helium wrote, included what helium called  "complexity successful the classification," a 43-day authorities shutdown that began Oct 1, 2025, and enactment changes astatine ODNI, including the confirmation of a caller wide counsel.

After gaining entree to the ailment successful precocious October, Fox said helium was held up by  clearance issues from discussing it with ODNI's apical lawyer, Jack Dever, who was incapable to presumption the ailment until Dec. 1. 

On Dec. 4, Fox and Dever raised the contented straight with Gabbard. According to the letter, Gabbard said astatine the clip that she had not antecedently been told that clearance to stock the ailment with Congress was pending, but would supply it arsenic soon arsenic possible. Later that day, Dever indicated the guidance was forthcoming, "pending a reappraisal by the White House Counsel for a imaginable assertion of enforcement privilege."  

Almost 2 months later, connected Jan. 30, the DNI's information guidance came through, according to Fox's letter. 

The White House did not instantly respond to a petition for comment. 

Fox stressed that the quality underlying the ailment was exceptionally sensitive. He said lone 1 erstwhile whistleblower case, successful 2020, required specified tightly controlled transportation to Congress, and that the accusation astatine contented would usually beryllium shared lone done oral briefings to elder legislature leaders.

On Tuesday, earlier quality emerged that the ailment had been handed over, the whistleblower's attorney, Andrew Bakaj, told CBS News ODNI had been withholding it  from Congress without explanation.

"If this was challenging initially to get to members of congress, each that had to beryllium done was idiosyncratic picking up the phone, alerting the Hill that, 'Hey, we got thing that's coming your way. We're trying to fig retired however to get it to you due to the fact that of, you know, immoderate complexities.'" 

"But the process tin move. It does move. It does not instrumentality 8 months to get thing similar this to the Hill," helium said. 

Read the afloat missive here: