After multiple media outlets reported on the presence of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard at the FBI execution of a search warrant at the Fulton County Elections and Operations Hub in Georgia, where agents reportedly removed 700 boxes of ballots and other materials related to the 2020 presidential election, leaders of the Select Committee on Intelligence, Vice Chairman Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Ranking Member James Himes (D-CT), demanded answers from Gabbard regarding her presence and why they were not informed of the operation.
In a four-page letter to Sens. Warner and Himes, Gabbard defended her presence at the FBI operation and wrote, “My presence was requested by the President.”
The DNI noted that she oversees the FBI’s Intelligence/Counterintelligence divisions and asserted that her office “had no responsibility to inform the Committees about the search warrant ahead of its execution.”
As seen below, with the letter, Gabbard added: “Contrary to the blatantly false and slanderous accusations being made against me by Members of Congress and their friends in the propaganda media, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has and will continue to take action under my statutory authorities to secure our nation and ensure the integrity of our elections.”
I co-wrote the order you claim allows you to rummage in ballot boxes. It does not.
In fact, we added language about “separation” between intelligence and law enforcement for this reason.
You’re on shaky legal ground. https://t.co/K2PNl5lk7h
— Miles Taylor (@MilesTaylorUSA) February 3, 2026
Former DHS Chief of Staff Miles Taylor, who served in the role during the first Trump administration, replied to Gabbard: “I co-wrote the order you claim allows you to rummage in ballot boxes. It does not. In fact, we added language about ‘separation’ between intelligence and law enforcement for this reason. You’re on shaky legal ground.”
Note: In 2020, Taylor revealed that he was anonymous writer of the 2018 New York Times op-ed titled, “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration.” He was the first former Trump administration official to endorse Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.