Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard ignored questions about whether there was a credible foreign threat to the U.S. elections — despite her involvement in Trump administration efforts to investigate alleged irregularities ahead of this November’s midterms.
In his opening remarks at the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats on Wednesday, Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) Noted that the topic of election security was completely omitted this year Annual Threat Assessment.
“For the first time since 2017, following Russia’s interference in our 2016 elections, the annual threat assessment does not include anything about adversary efforts to influence our elections. Now, I do not believe this omission means the threat has disappeared — it just means the intelligence community is no longer being allowed to speak honestly about it,” he said.
Warner later asked Gabbard directly about the omissions from the report, which is a coordinated assessment across the intelligence community and led by ODNI. The top spy chief did not answer the question directly, but pointed towards Warner his initial commentsIn which he said the intelligence community followed “the framework of priorities laid out in President Donald Trump’s national security strategy” when conducting its assessment.
national security strategyThere is also no mention of foreign threats in the US elections, released in November.
“Are you saying there is no foreign threat in the midterm elections this year?” Warner applied pressure.
Gabbard replied, “The intelligence community has and will continue to focus on any collection and intelligence gathering that reflects a potential foreign threat.” Warner responded, “Nothing has happened yet because you haven’t made a report.”
Threats to the US elections have been the cornerstone of recent threat assessments by the intelligence community. 2024 report It highlighted how foreign adversaries such as Russia, China and Iran may try to influence the upcoming US elections. Last year’s assessment, which was published after Gabbard was confirmed to lead ODNI, also detailed election threats posed by Moscow.
Warner said Gabbard’s “failure to make any mention of a foreign threat” in this year’s assessment “may lead to the conclusion that there should be no foreign threat in our elections in 2026.”
The hearing comes as the Trump administration moves to impose more power over the upcoming US elections based on unfounded claims of widespread fraud. Accused of foreign interference in the 2020 presidential election.
Warner attacked Gabbard over her role in these efforts and pointed to her presence in a January raid on an elections office in Fulton County, Georgia, as part of an investigation into allegations of issues with the ballot-matching process. These claims have been made Promoted and repeatedly rejected by conservative activists By state and local officials.
Gabbard’s team also Several voting machines seized in Puerto Rico Last year, it was later claimed that the machines were loaded with cybersecurity vulnerabilities that could jeopardize the US elections.
Meanwhile, Trump has directed US spy agencies to share sensitive intelligence about the 2020 election with Kurt Olsen, the president’s former campaign lawyer who is known for pushing debunked theories of election fraud. And the Justice Department earlier this month subpoenaed Arizona’s 2020 voting records related to claims of election fraud.
The Washington Post reported last month A 17-page executive order draft compiled by pro-Trump activists was circulating around Washington, encouraging Trump to declare a national emergency around the midterm elections.
The draft states that declaring a national emergency would “help address the threat of foreign powers interfering in access to critical election infrastructure and U.S. elections”, though no evidence has yet been provided to support those claims.
Trump has since Denied that he is considering Issuance of draft instructions.
