OAN Staff Addie Davis
5:02 PM – Thursday, April 16, 2026
Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard has announced the submission of criminal referrals to the Justice Department, citing a suspected conspiracy linked to the 2019 impeachment of President Donald Trump.
This follows Gabbard’s declassification of documents containing evidence of Intelligence Community (IC) Inspector General (IG) Michael Atkinson allegedly improperly conducting a whistleblower investigation of concerns over Trump’s 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to a Monday release by the DNI Office (ODNI).
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According to an intelligence official speaking with Fox News Digital, the referral is broad in scope but specifically targets Atkinson and the whistleblower. The ODNI alleges that Atkinson improperly forwarded the complaint to the DOJ while relying solely on secondhand information.
“Despite a lack of any firsthand evidence, IC IG Atkinson proceeded to take actions to weaponize the Whistleblower process and exceed his statutory jurisdiction by ignoring Department of Justice guidance and relying on only second-hand testimony to ensure the whistleblower complaint was released to Congress, referred to the FBI, and leaked to the propaganda media,” the office stated on Monday.
The report further highlighted that the whistleblower form had been updated months earlier to permit complaints based on indirect knowledge.
Although the DOJ reviewed the referral and concluded that “no further action was warranted,” finding no grounds for a criminal case, the ODNIC argued that Atkinson forwarded the matter to Congress without a “fulsome investigation.”
The office noted that Atkinson himself admitted his findings were preliminary, resulting in the case reaching Congress without a formal or exhaustive inquiry.
“I haven’t done an investigation to determine whether they actually, in fact, took place…that all of the alleged actions actually took place,” Atkinson had said, the office alleged.
Another issue raised was the apparent bias of the whistleblower, who admitted to being a registered Democrat, working closely with then-Vice President Joe Biden, and even traveling to Ukraine with him, ODNIC emphasized.
“Despite public reports that the Whistleblower worked with Vice President Biden on Ukraine matters, inquiries into the Whistleblower’s bias and motive were blocked during the 2020 impeachment trial,” the office claimed.
Gabbard continued to condemn the “false narrative” that was produced by “deep state actors.”
“Deep state actors within the Intelligence Community concocted a false narrative that was used by Congress to usurp the will of the American people and impeach the duly-elected President of the United States,” she said.
“Inspector General Atkinson failed to uphold his responsibility to the American people, putting political motivations over the truth. And this, along with the politicization of the whistleblower process by a former CIA employee who was working hand in glove with Democrats in Congress, are egregious examples of the deep state playbook on how to weaponize the Intelligence Community,” she continued.
“Exposing these tactics and showing how they undermine the fabric of our democratic republic furthers the critical cause of transparency and accountability and will help prevent future abuse of power.”
In an interview with NewsNation, Gabbard accused House Democrats of “concocting this narrative” and “weaponizing the whistleblower process.” She maintains that they utilized lies and an abuse of power to build a “manufactured basis” for the 2019 impeachment of Trump — an effort allegedly driven by Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the House.
Gabbard also named then-House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) as a key figure in the effort. The ODNIC alleged that the whistleblower later admitted to lying about their prior communications with congressional Democrats before officially submitting the allegations.
“In October 2019, after the media began to report that the Whistleblower had spoken with Congress ahead of submitting the “Disclosure of Urgent Concern Form,” the Whistleblower called the IC IG to admit that he/she had, in fact, spoken with Congress,” ODNIC stated.
The Four Individuals Interviewed
According to the released records and Atkinson’s own 2019 testimony, the investigation relied on interviews with:
- The Whistleblower: The original complainant who filed the “urgent concern” regarding the Trump-Zelenskyy call.
- The Whistleblower’s Direct Supervisor: A high-ranking intelligence official who was questioned regarding the whistleblower’s access to information and general credibility.
- An Additional Witness (Information Technology/Records): A witness with direct access to the written transcripts and the electronic storage system where the record of the July 25, 2019, call was placed.
- A Second Witness (Policy/National Security): A person who had reviewed the official records of the call and corroborated parts of the whistleblower’s account.
The DOJ will decide whether or not to pursue a criminal investigation over the referrals. In the U.S. legal system, a criminal referral from an agency like the ODNI does not carry the weight of a legal charge or indictment. It is essentially a formal recommendation for the DOJ to investigate potential criminal activity.
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