Mysterious Tulsi Gabbard whistleblower complaint ‘locked in safe’ as Congress kept in dark over contents

In a highly unusual situation, a whistleblower complaint concerning the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard is reportedly “locked in a safe” and withheld from lawmakers, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Filed in May 2025 with the Intelligence Community Inspector General, the complaint alleges unspecified wrongdoing by Gabbard. Officials have said the document contains exceptionally sensitive classified information requiring special handling. Congressional committees are still trying to find out what it says.

‘Absolutely no wrongdoing,’ Gabbard’s team says

Gabbard’s team has pushed back against claims of obstruction. Her spokesperson, Olivia Coleman, emphasized that the Intelligence Community Inspector General previously found the complaint “not credible” and that the delay stemmed from the document’s extreme classification, not misconduct. Coleman said there was “absolutely no wrongdoing by DNI Gabbard” and criticized media coverage as misleading, according to Newsmax.

The House and Senate intelligence committees will soon review the complaint under proper security protocols, Gabbard’s office said. Her team also stressed that the director supports legal whistleblower protections, even when she considers the claims baseless. Gabbard and her team have not disclosed any details of the complaint itself

Federal law typically requires that agencies transmit whistleblower complaints against intelligence officials to the congressional intelligence committees. In this case, the agency filed the complaint. Lawmakers, however, learned about it only months later, when Democrats claimed they had a statutory right to review the document. The whistleblower’s attorney, Andrew Bakaj, publicly criticized Gabbard’s office, calling the eight-month delay “confounding.”

The Georgia raid and Gabbard’s past controversies

The whistleblower complaint comes amid broader controversy over Gabbard’s tenure as DNI. Most recently, she was present at an FBI raid on an election office in Fulton County, Georgia, relating to the 2020 presidential election. Critics argue her presence was unusual for the nation’s top intelligence official, whose responsibilities traditionally focus on foreign intelligence and national security.

Gabbard, a former congresswoman and 2020 presidential candidate, defended her attendance, saying she acted at President Trump’s request to coordinate intelligence regarding election security threats, including foreign influence and cybersecurity risks.

Her critics, including key Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees, argue that the raid blurred the line between intelligence oversight and partisan politics.

Gabbard’s career has long attracted scrutiny for unorthodox positions, including critiques of U.S. foreign policy and occasional alignment with anti-establishment figures. Her time as DNI has intensified debate over politicization and the appropriate scope of her authority in both domestic and international security matters. For now, Lawmakers continue to press for access to the whistleblower complaint and explanations of Gabbard’s recent actions.