(Washington) U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday that she is not concerned that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s participation in an FBI search of a Georgia election office could compromise the FBI’s investigation.
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His comments came the day after a new explanation given by President Donald Trump on the presence of Mr.me Gabbard in the main election center of Georgia’s most populous county last week, saying Mme Bondi had requested his presence.
Mme Gabbard told lawmakers in a letter this week that Donald Trump asked her to join the search, during which agents seized hundreds of boxes containing ballots and other documents related to the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia. But speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, Donald Trump said Mr.me Gabbard “went there at Pam’s insistence.”
At an unrelated press conference on Friday, Mr.me Bondi explained that the presence of Mme Gabbard in Georgia reflected government collaboration.
“The Director of National Intelligence and I are inseparable. We are constantly together, as are the people behind us, said Mme Bondi, with FBI Director Kash Patel at his side. We’re constantly talking, we’re collaborating as a firm. We are all extremely close. We know what others are doing at all times, to keep not only our country safe, but the entire world safe. »
PHOTO ELIJAH NEWS, REUTERS
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard during an FBI search of the election office in Fulton, Georgia, January 28, 2026
The involvement of Mme Gabbard’s case, which is linked to Mr. Trump’s debunked conspiracy theories about his 2020 defeat, has raised concerns among Democratic lawmakers about the blurring between intelligence work, which typically focuses on foreign threats, and domestic law enforcement operations, such as FBI searches.
Democrats also fear his involvement could set the stage for the federal government to claim that the 2020 election race, lost by Donald Trump, was tainted by foreign interference or to cast doubt on the integrity of future elections.
If criminal charges are pursued, her presence — and her assertion that Donald Trump himself asked her to be present, as well as her admitted role in facilitating a call between FBI agents and the president — could open the door to defense arguments that the investigation was inherently politically motivated.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche explained in a television interview days after the FBI search that he did not know why Mme Gabbard was present and that she “was not part of the grand jury investigation.” But he also defended her as an important player in the administration’s efforts to maintain election integrity.
Mme Gabbard said in her letter to lawmakers that she accompanied senior FBI officials “under my broad legal authority to coordinate, integrate and analyze intelligence related to election security.”
