DNI Tulsi Gabbard Sends Criminal Referrals to DOJ For Ukraine ‘Whistleblower’ Eric Ciaramella and Former Intel IG Michael Atkinson

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Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday sent criminal referrals to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for Eric Ciaramella, the Ukraine “whistleblower” whose complaint helped trigger the 2019 impeachment effort against President Trump; and for former intelligence community inspector general, Michael Atkinson, who helped orchestrate the hoax.

On Monday, Gabbard released never-before-seen documents on the impeachment conspiracy, alleging they exposed “a coordinated effort by elements within the Intelligence Community (IC) to manufacture a conspiracy that was used as the basis to impeach President Trump in 2019.”

The documents include transcripts from Atkinson’s closed-door testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which were withheld from the House Judiciary Committee during the first impeachment trial. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) recently led a vote to release the transcripts.

In August 2019, Atkinson received a complaint from Ciaramella, a partisan Democrat, regarding Trump’s July 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, when he urged him to launch investigations into the Biden family’s corrupt actions and business dealings in Ukraine.

Hunter Biden was already under federal investigation in the United States at the time of the call, a probe that was triggered by suspicious foreign transactions.

ODNI accused Atkinson of improperly handling the whistleblower complaint, which was based on secondhand information.

Gabbard said the documents show that Atkinson “failed to conduct basic due diligence and willfully exceeded his statutory jurisdiction to mischaracterize the president’s phone call with Zelensky as an ‘urgent concern’ to Congress.”

The ODNI also alleges that Ciaramella lied about meeting with Democrats before the Ukraine hoax was launched.

“The Whistleblower admitted he/she lied to the Inspector General about speaking to Democrats in Congress ahead of submitting allegations of wrongdoing by President Trump to the IC Inspector General,” ODNI said in a press release. “While media widely reported on this detail in 2019, the pre-complaint meeting with Congress has never before been confirmed by the Whistleblower.”

“Deep state actors within the Intelligence Community concocted a false narrative that was used by Congress to usurp the will of the American people and impeach the duly-elected President of the United States,” said DNI Gabbard on Monday. “Inspector General Atkinson failed to uphold his responsibility to the American people, putting political motivations over the truth. And this, along with the politicization of the whistleblower process by a former CIA employee who was working hand in glove with Democrats in Congress, are egregious examples of the deep state playbook on how to weaponize the Intelligence Community. 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 has previously targeted Obama-era officials, including James Clapper, John Brennan, James Comey, and Barack Obama, alleging a “treasonous conspiracy” to politicize intelligence and undermine Trump’s 2016 election victory. Gabbard released evidence showing the administration directed a false intelligence assessment on Russian election interference and orchestrated leaks to the media. She also referred intelligence leakers in April 2025 over unauthorized disclosures to outlets like The Washington Post, accusing them of partisan motives.