Trump shifts explanation of why DNI Gabbard was at FBI Georgia election office raid
President Donald Trump on Thursday again shifted explanations of why Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was at a controversial FBI search of a Georgia election office where 2020 ballots were seized amid his continuing false claims of voter fraud.
Trump told attendees of the National Prayer Breakfast that it was Attorney General Pam Bondi who "insisted" that Gabbard oversee the Jan. 28 raid at the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operations Center.
"She went in and she looked at votes that want to be checked out from Georgia," he said of Gabbard. "They say, 'Why is she doing it?'" he continued, referring to questions raised about why Gabbard -- who deals with foreign intelligence threats -- was getting involved in domestic law enforcement. "Because Pam wanted her to do it," he said. "And you know why? Because she's smart."
His comments came just hours after NBC News aired an interview in which Trump was asked about the probe and why Gabbard was there.
"I don't know," Trump answered, even though Gabbard's office earlier had said Trump ordered her to be there -- and sources said even called her on the phone at the time.
He then went on to suggest there had been Chinese election interference.
Gabbard, who attended the prayer breakfast along with Bondi, has given Congress a different account.
In a letter obtained by ABC News and sent Monday to Sen. Mark Warner and Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrats on the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, respectively, Gabbard framed her involvement as part of what she described as her job to ensure U.S. election security.
"My presence was requested by the President and executed under my broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security, including counterintelligence (CI), foreign and other malign influence and cybersecurity," she wrote.
Both Democrats continued to voice alarm over Gabbard's visit on Thursday.
In a post on social media on Thursday, Warner said: "If Trump ordered Gabbard to attend the FBI raid in Fulton County, it raises serious concerns about the extent to which he is intervening in domestic criminal investigations about his loss in 2020."
In his own statement, Himes said Gabbard "has yet to offer a plausible explanation, or a defensible legal rationale for her presence" at the FBI raid.
"If, as she claims, Gabbard has compelling evidence to suggest foreign interference against the election infrastructure in question, she must share that information with Congress immediately," Himes said in the statement. "Otherwise, in concert with the President's call for nationalizing elections, this is a political stunt that raises profound Constitutional questions about ODNI's mission and integrity."
An ODNI official told ABC News last week that Gabbard's presence was requested by the president "and executed under her broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security, including counterintelligence, foreign malign influence, and cyber security."
Later Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked if Trump had asked Gabbard to go to Georgia and she responded, "The president was asked and answered that question just yesterday."
She accused the news media of getting "very caught up with the semantics of why Tulsi Gabbard is there."
ODNI officials defended the administration's account, with a spokesperson writing in a statement to ABC News, "There's no contradiction. As the President said, he asked for Director Gabbard to be there."
"Attorney General Bondi also asked for her to be there. Two things can be true at the same time," the statement added.
At the time of the raid, Gabbard arranged a phone call between the president and the agents in which he told them they were doing great work in searching and investigating Georgia's elections, multiple sources told ABC News.
Georgia officials audited and certified the results following the election, and numerous lawsuits challenging the election results in the state have been rejected by courts.
"Every audit, every recount, every court ruling has confirmed what we the people of Fulton County already knew: Our elections were fair and accurate and every legal vote was counted," Robb Pitts, chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, said at a press briefing on Jan. 29.
Fulton County officials say FBI agents removed 700 boxes containing ballots and other materials associated with the 2020 election after obtaining a search warrant approved by a federal magistrate judge.
Investigators are going ballot by ballot, searching for any irregularities, sources said. Fulton County officials have demanded that those materials be returned.
Trump has repeatedly made baseless claims that there was voter fraud in the 2020 election, specifically in Georgia, that contributed to his election loss to Biden. He also has repeated claims, without evidence, that China and other foreign adversaries were involved in the alleged fraud.
The probe and Gabbard's involvement have come under heavy scrutiny on Capitol Hill by Democrats who have questioned DNI's authority over the matter.
Federal law describes the DNI as a person to "designate and oversee a National Counterintelligence Officer within the National Counterintelligence and Security Center to lead, manage, and coordinate counterintelligence matters related to election security," including any risks by foreign entities.
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to clarify a statement from ODNI.
