Gabbard Makes Criminal Referrals Linked To First Trump Impeachment - the phdailynews.org
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has sent criminal referrals to the Justice Department related to a whistleblower complaint that helped trigger President Donald Trump’s 2019 impeachment, his first, ostensibly tied to a phone call he held with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, reports said this week. Advertisement The referrals also include former intelligence community inspector general Michael Atkinson, who notified Congress of the allegations.
The referral cited concerns tied to actions described in congressional briefings during the 2019 impeachment process, Fox News reported.
Documents reviewed by Fox News Digital show the referrals reference Atkinson’s briefings before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Those briefings took place during the 116th Congress as lawmakers examined the whistleblower complaint. Advertisement The referrals follow the release of newly declassified records by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Officials said the materials detail what they described as a coordinated effort within elements of the intelligence community tied to the impeachment.
“I want to refer information that may constitute possible criminal activity in violation of federal criminal law committed by one or more former employees of the intelligence community,” the agency’s general counsel wrote
An intelligence official said the referral language is broad but is focused on Atkinson and the whistleblower. The complaint centered on President Donald Trump’s July 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Advertisement Gabbard pointed to the documents in a social media post when asked about the referrals. “Newly-declassified records expose how deep state actors within the Intelligence Community concocted a false narrative,” she wrote.
Officials have not indicated whether an investigation has been opened.
The released materials include transcripts of Atkinson’s closed-door testimony before the House Intelligence Committee. Those transcripts were later made public following a vote led by committee chairman Rick Crawford.
The Justice Department has not publicly responded to the referrals
During his testimony, Atkinson addressed his handling of the whistleblower complaint. He said the complaint met the legal standard required to notify Congress.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard reportedly has two of President Donald Trump's whistleblowers in her crosshairs … and she's now getting the Justice Department involved in potentially prosecuting them for alleged crimes against DJT.
— TMZ (@TMZ) April 16, 2026
Read: https://t.co/mDmKq4cuq4 pic.twitter.com/D6kvnTXiiK
“I determined that the complaint related to an urgent concern,” Atkinson said in his testimony. He said the determination was based on the information available at the time.
Atkinson acknowledged that the whistleblower did not have firsthand knowledge of the events described. He said the complaint relied on accounts from multiple U.S. officials who were deemed credible.
“I was not a direct witness to most of the events described,” the whistleblower complaint stated
Atkinson said those secondhand accounts were consistent and supported further review.
Atkinson also said the whistleblower showed potential signs of political bias. Despite that, he said the law did not require him to dismiss the complaint on that basis.
The complaint, filed in August 2019, raised concerns about Trump’s call with Zelenskyy. It included allegations that Trump encouraged investigations involving former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.
Democrats argued the request amounted to a quid pro quo tied to U.S
military aid. Trump and his allies rejected that characterization and said the call was appropriate.
Biden has said his actions regarding Ukraine were part of official U.S. policy at the time. He described pressuring Ukraine to remove a prosecutor during a 2018 event.
“I said, ‘You’re not getting the billion,’” Biden recalled. He said the prosecutor was removed after the warning.
House Republicans raised concerns during the impeachment process about the whistleblower’s contact with congressional staff
They questioned interactions involving then-Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff.
Schiff acknowledged contact but said it did not influence the handling of the complaint. He described the communication as limited in nature.
The whistleblower complaint was later declassified and released publicly. It stated that the information was based largely on secondhand accounts from multiple officials.
Obama Accuses JD Vance Of Promoting ‘Blood And Soil’ Politics
Former President Barack Obama rarely mentions Vice President JD Vance by name, but that changed this week with one of his sharpest public attacks since Vance took office.
The comments immediately fueled speculation that Democrats are beginning to focus more attention on the vice president as Republicans look ahead to the post-Trump era.
Speaking Thursday during a conversation with author Malcolm Gladwell, Obama accused Vance of promoting what he described as a “blood and soil” vision of America, despite being married to Usha Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants.
Obama made the remarks while discussing the Reconstruction era and arguing that many of the same debates over citizenship, voting rights and national identity continue today.
“We have a politics now that at least one of our major parties has been captured by politics that is not that subtle about suggesting that ‘We the people’ means a certain kind of people,” Obama said.
“When you have the vice president, current vice president, making a speech that is basically a blood and soil version of ‘We the people,’ that it matters who your parents were and how long they’ve been here despite him being married to a daughter of an immigrant himself.”
The phrase “blood and soil” is historically associated with Nazi Germany and white nationalist ideology.
Obama went on to argue that debates over who belongs in America remain central to the nation’s politics.
“That echoes, then, ideas about who can be a citizen, who belongs, who gets to make decisions,” he said.
Gladwell followed by accusing Vance of hypocrisy, arguing that the vice president was making what he called a nativist argument despite his own family’s immigrant background.
Obama agreed.
“That is progress,” Obama said.
“Listen, hypocrisy is progress. It is, because it means that you feel guilty enough to either lie to yourself or others.”
Fox News Digital reported that it reached out to Vance’s office for comment.
Obama did not identify the specific speech he was criticizing, but Vance’s most recent nationally televised remarks came during Independence Day celebrations marking America’s 250th birthday.
In that speech, Vance encouraged Americans to reject what he called a “two-dimensional view” of the country focused only on its historical failures.
“So what I’d ask you to do, my fellow Americans, on our 250th birthday, is to reject the two-dimensional view of your fellow citizens and reject the two-dimensional view of your country,” Vance said.
“Reject the view of your nation that sees only its sins, but not its grace and its greatness.”
He also emphasized that America’s accomplishments were achieved by “a common people working towards a common future.”
Obama has generally avoided making Vance a regular target since the vice president took office.
One notable exception came during the 2024 presidential campaign when then-Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
Without naming Vance directly, Obama contrasted Harris’ choice with the Republican ticket.
“When a presidential candidate chooses a running mate, it says a lot about who they are and what kind of president they’ll be,” Obama said at the time, Fox News reported.
Political observers have increasingly discussed Vance as a potential frontrunner for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination, though he has not announced any plans to run.
Against that backdrop, Obama’s unusually direct criticism is likely to fuel speculation that some Democrats are beginning to sharpen their message against a politician they view as a likely future standard-bearer for the Republican Party. While no Democratic leaders have publicly described their strategy in those terms, prominent figures often begin drawing contrasts with potential future rivals well before a presidential campaign officially begins.
Whether that proves to be the case remains to be seen, but Obama’s remarks marked one of his most pointed critiques of Vance to date and ensured the vice president once again found himself at the center of the national political conversation.
