Gabbard sends criminal referrals to DOJ for whistleblower and watchdog who helped launch Trump's first impeachment

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CBS News

April 15, 2026 / 10:41 PM EDT


Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard asked the Justice Department to investigate two former government officials who played a central role in President Trump's first impeachment inquiry. A spokesperson for Gabbard's office confirmed that she drafted criminal referrals for a whistleblower and a former intelligence community watchdog, but did not detail what specific crimes are alleged.

Whether to pursue a criminal investigation following a referral is up to prosecutors at the Justice Department. The referrals came after Gabbard criticized how former Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson handled the 2019 whistleblower complaint earlier this week, releasing a trove of documents linked to Atkinson.

The whistleblower — whose identity has not been formally disclosed — reported an "urgent concern" about President Trump's request for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden. The complaint also expressed concerns about how records of a Trump-Zelenskyy phone call were handled, and about the role of Mr. Trump's then-personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, in the U.S.'s relationship with Ukraine.

"I have received information from multiple U.S. Government officials that the President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election," the whistleblower wrote. "This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President's main domestic political rivals." Mr. Trump was impeached in the House of Representatives in late 2019, but was acquitted in a Senate vote mostly along party lines in early 2020. He has long denied any wrongdoing, referring to his phone call with Zelenskyy as "perfect."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gabbard-criminal-referrals-doj-whistleblower-watchdog-trump-first-impeachment/

[Lovie777]

1. Opening up a can of worms not in shithole's favor.................

[The Wizard]

2. Why would

a suspected Russian operative do the bidding for a convicted felon with an approval that falls between herpes and anal leakage?

[Botany]

4. Why would Tulsi do this?

She is on Putin’s payroll and undoubtedly there is kompramat on her.

[SergeStorms]

14. She's an unbridled opportunist.

Watch Hysteria's "This #×cking Guy" exposè about the wonderful Tulsi Gabbard for a hair-raising look into that chameleon's history.

Apparently no one in TrumpCo. vetted this snake before they chose her for the national intelligence position.

[Botany]

3. Fascist attempt to rewrite history.

The crime according to Russian asset Tulsi Gabbard wasn’t Donald Trump withholding
military assistance from Ukraine unless President Zelenskyy invented dirt on Joe Biden
but the reporting of Trump’s attempted extortion.

Trump should be in the U.S. Super Maximum Federal Prison in Colorado right now. The
extent to which the Republican Party, the super rich, our Christo Fascist Christians, the
Republican owned media, the fossil fuel industries, and Trump’s associates have gone to
and continue to go to in order to normalize and cover up his crimes is 100% unAmerican.

[Festivito]

12. Yes, plus distract and create confusion.

His base believes the story is fake. Their proof is that there is investigation, charges, trial, extended trial, followed by a far off, distant news blurb between a story of a dog riding a bicycle and a man with his head caught in a sink.

Ohh yeah, he was found not guilty as reported by the shaking head news station.

[Botany]

16. Trump was impeached by the House for

his attempt to extort Zelenskyy into inventing dirt on Biden. Part of his
phone call to was released on a
transcript and he told Zelenskyy to just
say something about Biden and his people
would make the rest up. Trump and the Republicans were able to block the release
of the full transcript and a recording of the
call. The Senate Republicans knowing full
well that Trump was guilty because Adam
Schiff put out an air tight case still voted not to convict Trump. They are traitors to
their sworn oath to protect America and the Constitution.

Btw one of the very best men I have ever
known in my life was PA's Republican governor Ray Schafer.. as a kid he was our
neighbor's brother. His kind is long gone.

[Ray Bruns]

5. "but did not detail what specific crimes are alleged."

Isn’t it obvious. They are guilty of pissing off Donald Trump.

[Vinca]

6. Well, if they want to talk about it we can elaborate ad nauseum on the attempted Zelenskyy shakedown.

[riversedge]

7. .. Atkinson spent 15 years at the Justice Department before serving as inspector general of the intelligence community f

....... Atkinson spent 15 years at the Justice Department before serving as inspector general of the intelligence community from 2018 to 2020. Atkinson’s reputation as a straight shooter prompted some lawmakers who were otherwise skeptical of the whistleblower complaint to take the document seriously, CNN previously reported.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/15/politics/tulsi-gabbard-office-criminal-referral-trump-impeachment


Trump fired Atkinson in April 2020, raising concerns that the president was meddling in the work of what are supposed to be independent watchdogs.

[dem4decades]

8. The Democrats better go after these bastards, no more Garlands.

[AverageOldGuy]

9. I'll vote for the Democrat in 2028 . . .

. . . who promises to build a big gallows on the National Mall . . . and appoint an Atty Gen who will use it.

[AllyCat]

11. And I'm not even pro-death penalty. This lot is making me

Rethink my position

[Talitha]

13. "a big gallows on the National Mall"

Framed by Dump's proposed Arch.

[dem4decades]

15. Aren't we tearing that down?

[AllyCat]

10. Whistleblower. A whistleblower is supporting be

Protected! This is the worst government ever.

[Playingmantis]

17. The gutter has come to power

Can we survive this? Will elections be fair ever again?
Will Trump arrest all his political opponents?
Will the GOP approve?
Will he get two more Supreme Court Justices?

Things we never dreamed we would ask

[LetMyPeopleVote]

18. MaddowBlog-Tulsi Gabbard impresses her audience of one with another indefensible abuse

The director of national intelligence is engaging in pitiful antics because her job likely depends on it. For now, there’s reason to believe it’s working.

Tulsi Gabbard’s latest ridiculous antics are clearly a performative display intended to satisfy an audience of one as she desperately tries to avoid getting fired.

For now, however, I think it’s probably working as intended.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-04-16T19:49:17.959Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/tulsi-gabbard-impresses-her-audience-of-one-with-another-indefensible-abuse

Eight months later, a suspiciously similar process is unfolding. MS NOW reported:

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has sent criminal referrals to the Justice Department related to a former intelligence community inspector general and a whistleblower whose complaint helped trigger the first impeachment of President Donald Trump.

The whistleblower complaint, deemed credible at the time by then-Inspector General Michael Atkinson, set off a chain of events that culminated in Trump’s impeachment in 2019 for pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate his then-political rival Joe Biden. The Senate later acquitted Trump in a largely party-line vote.

The criminal referral was first reported by Fox News. A spokesperson for Gabbard’s office confirmed to MS NOW that she had sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department but declined to provide further details. ....

As was the case last summer, her presentation — to the extent that one could credibly call it that — failed entirely to make a compelling case, which helped explain why the DNI’s allegations went largely ignored.

But by all appearances, the point wasn’t about exposing actual wrongdoing. Rather, Gabbard — no doubt aware of scuttlebutt about her possible firing after 14 months of failures, controversies and embarrassments — was likely trying to impress her audience of one.

There’s reason to believe it worked.

The president used his social media platform on Wednesday night to tout the DNI’s latest partisan antics, which followed two items posted earlier in the week, both of which were built around the idea that Gabbard’s latest foolishness should help the president’s crusade to “expunge” his first impeachment — a priority he has pushed intermittently for years.

Gabbard is engaging in such pitiful antics because her job likely depends on it. As for whether similarly situated loyalists at Main Justice are prepared to maintain the charade, watch this space.