On Monday, Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, unveiled a collection of declassified documents that highlight the questionable practices, biased evidence, and absence of direct accounts that the former inspector general of the intelligence community relied on to push forward the 2019 impeachment proceedings against President Trump.

According to Gabbard, Michael Atkinson, the former inspector general, deviated from standard protocols before forwarding a whistleblower complaint to Congress. This complaint, concerning Trump’s notorious July 2019 conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, served as the foundation for the initial unsuccessful impeachment attempt by congressional Democrats.

Gabbard remarked in a statement, “Certain individuals within the Intelligence Community fabricated a misleading storyline, leveraged by Congress to undermine the democratic choice of the American public by attempting to impeach the legitimately elected President.”

She further criticized Atkinson for neglecting his duty to the American public, prioritizing political agendas over factual integrity. Gabbard also condemned the manipulation of the whistleblower process by a former CIA operative collaborating with congressional Democrats, calling it a blatant example of how the Intelligence Community can be strategically misused.

Key witness didn’t hear the phone call  

The documents reveal that Atkinson only conducted interviews with four individuals, including the whistleblower, during his 2019 probe. None of these individuals had direct knowledge of the Trump-Zelensky call.

One interviewee was identified by Gabbard’s team as a “friend” of the whistleblower. This person was also noted as a co-author of the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment on Russia and a close associate of the disgraced former FBI agent Peter Strzok.

The other two “character references” questioned by Atkinson “had zero firsthand knowledge of the July 2019 phone call. 

“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,” Gabbard’s office said.

Whistleblower may have been biased 

Atkinson testified before the House Intelligence Committee that he “never considered the whistleblower to be politically biased,” despite information gleaned during his interviews that suggests otherwise. 

The whistleblower admitted to speaking with Democrats in Congress about Trump’s phone call before submitting the complaint to the inspector general, according to Gabbard. 

Atkinson also noted in his memo after interviewing the whistleblower that “Complainant is a registered democrat.”

The whistleblower further noted they “worked closely with Vice President Biden as an expert on Ukraine” and “travelled with Biden to Ukraine and was part of conversations where [Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy] LUTSENKO corruption was discussed.” 

Atkinson “weaponized” whistleblower process 

Gabbard found the IC inspector general “willfully exceeded his statutory jurisdiction” to label the phone call complaint as an “urgent concern” for Congress.

Atkinson “ignored” guidance from the Justice Department indicating that the complaint did not meet the “urgent concern” threshold, since it did not relate to “the funding, administration, or operation of an intelligence activity.”

The IG also sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department – relying solely on second-hand knowledge of the phone call – which the DOJ later assessed contained no basis for a criminal case against Trump. 

Atkinson further “failed to conduct basic due diligence,” according to Gabbard, including by never requesting access to a transcript of Trump’s call with Zelensky.   

Gabbard’s office notes the Atkinson sought out “unprecedented assistance” from other government agency IGs to proceed with the investigation of Trump in the event he was stopped. 

Finally, the DNI notes the intelligence community’s Office of the Inspector General “altered the whistleblower form within months” of Trump’s call with Zelensky to “no longer require firsthand knowledge as a prerequisite for reporting complaints.”

After Atkinson’s 14-day preliminary investigation, then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) used “this false, second-hand narrative to create media intrigue and ultimately spark” the impeachment trial of Trump. 

Trump was acquitted by the end of the impeachment trial. 

“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,” Gabbard said.