Tulsi Gabbard exposes three ‘deep state criminals’ who have infiltrated America’s intelligence network
Tulsi Gabbard has referred two intelligence officials to the Department of Justice for allegedly leaking classified information – with a third referral on its way.
The unidentified officials allegedly leaked the classified intelligence to the Washington Post and the New York Times, an Office of the Director of National Intelligence official told Fox News Digital.
‘Politicization of our intelligence and leaking classified information puts our nation’s security at risk and must end,’ Gabbard, who serves as the director of national intelligence, said as news of the pending charges broke.
‘Those who leak classified information will be found and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,’ she vowed.
Gabbard then went on to claim that the ‘deep state criminals leaked classified information for partisan political purposes to undermine President Trump’s agenda.
‘I look forward to working with the Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate, terminate and prosecute these criminals.’
The move to refer the three officials for criminal prosecution comes as Trump officials ramp up their investigations into possible leak, with Gabbard establishing a new task force last month to root out unauthorized disclosures of classified intelligence.
She said at the time that a ‘leaker within the IC sharing information on Israel / Iran with the Washington Post’ was among the ‘unauthorized leaks’ she was looking at, according to Axios.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard shockingly announced on Wednesday that she has referred two intelligence officials to the Department of Justice for allegedly leaking classified information – with a third referral on its way
She claimed the unidentified officials were trying to undermine President Donald Trump’s
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has since conducted an internal review and sent the criminal referral to the Justice Department, a source inside the office told Fox News.
The Department of Justice would then send a referral to the FBI to begin a formal criminal investigation.
‘We are aggressively investigating other leaks and will pursue further criminal referrals as warranted,’ the source said.
‘Any intelligence community bureaucrat who is considering leaking to the media should take this as a warning.’
Meanwhile, the Department of Defense is conducting its own probe into possible leaks amid increased scrutiny of the department following Secretary Pete Hegseth’s and other top Cabinet officials’ Signal chat with the Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.
Just last week, in fact, Deputy Chief of Staff Darin Selnick, Hegseth’s top adviser Dan Caldwell and Colin Carroll ,chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg were fired.
Caldwell and Selnick were even personally escorted from the premises.
In the aftermath, the trio released a statement saying they were ‘incredibly disappointed by the manner in which our service at the Department of Defense ended’ and decrying ‘baseless attacks’ on their character.
The Department of Defense is conducting its own probe into possible leaks
Three former Defense officials were fired from the Pentagon last week amid the probe
‘Unnamed Pentagon officials have slandered our character with baseless attacks on our way out the door,’ they said.
‘All three of us served our country honorably in uniform – for two of us, this included deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And based on our collective service, we understand the importance of information security and worked every day to protect it.’
Caldwell also denied he leaked any classified information in an interview with Tucker Carlson – and instead claimed the investigation was ‘weaponized’ against him because he ‘threatened’ established ideas within the Pentagon’s walls.
He then went on to imply that insider in-fighting led to the firing of Selnick and Carroll, separate from those that led to his own termination.
‘We were threatening a lot of established interests in our own separate ways and we had people who had personal vendettas against us. And I think they weaponized the investigation against us.’
Dan Caldwell (pictured) is one of three Department of Defense staffers fired amid an investigation into leaks after they were taken away from the premises
The news comes days after Defense aides Caldwell, Darin Selnick (left) and Colin Carroll (right) were terminated after allegedly being identified during the leak investigation
When asked to expound on what views Caldwell held that could have gotten him fired, he said that there is a bipartisan desire to see America go to war with Iran.
‘I think there clearly is a very strong coalition within the United States that wants to see another war in the Middle East and it crosses both parties.’
Furthermore, Caldwell – who blames career staffers for leaking out sensitive information – believes that the investigation that supposedly led to his firing is a total sham.
‘There’s a lot of evidence that there is not a real investigation but again, sitting here right now, there are a lot of unknowns about this,’ he said.
Selnick and Carroll are now planning to sue for wrongful termination, according to Politico.
But Hegseth has held firm in his accusations of his former colleagues, warning on Tuesday that they will likely be prosecuted, Reuters reports.
Hegseth has held firm in his accusations of his former colleagues
‘If those people are exonerated, fantastic,’ he told Fox News, before adding: ‘We don’t think – based on what we understand – that it’s going to be a good day for a number of those individuals because of what was found in the investigation.’
He went on to explain that there had been a number of leaks that triggered the investigation, including about military options to ensure US access to the Panama Canal and Elon Musk’s visit to the Pentagon.
‘We said “enough is enough, we’re going to launch a leak investigation,”‘ he recounted. ‘We took it seriously.
‘It led to some unfortunate places, people I have known for quite some time. But it’s not my job to protect them. It’s my job to protect national security.’
Yet Hegseth – himself – is also facing scrutiny after it was revealed that he shared details of a US foreign military attack in a second Signal group chat, this time involving his wife, brother and personal lawyer.
Neither the White House nor Hegseth denied that he had shared such information in the chat, instead focusing their responses on what they called disgruntled workers who leaked to the media.
They have also insisted that no classified information had been disclosed.
‘It´s just fake news. They just bring up stories,’ President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday.
‘I guess it sounds like disgruntled employees. You know, he was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people, and that´s what he´s doing. So you don´t always have friends when you do that,’ Trump said.
