DNI Tulsi Gabbard Sends Criminal Referrals to DOJ Targeting 2019 Trump Impeachment Whistleblower and ICIG Michael Atkinson

WASHINGTON — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has formally referred the anonymous whistleblower whose complaint triggered President Donald Trump’s first impeachment and former Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson to the Justice Department for criminal investigation.

The referrals, confirmed by an ODNI spokesperson on April 15-16, 2026, stem from newly declassified documents showing the 2019 Ukraine whistleblower process was marred by bias, procedural violations, hearsay evidence, and concealment of key facts from Congress.

The whistleblower — identified in prior reporting as CIA analyst Eric Ciaramella — filed the August 2019 complaint over Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. That complaint, quickly forwarded by Atkinson to Congress, became the foundation for House Democrats’ December 2019 impeachment articles on abuse of power and obstruction.

Declassified memos and transcripts released by Gabbard this week reveal Ciaramella misled investigators about prior contacts with House Democrats, admitted potential bias due to his Democratic registration and past work with Joe Biden on Ukraine policy, and relied on second-hand information. Atkinson, an Obama-era holdover, deviated from standard procedures by interviewing only witnesses with limited or no firsthand knowledge of the call and withheld evidence of those flaws from lawmakers.

Gabbard stated the documents expose “a coordinated effort by elements within the Intelligence Community” to manufacture a narrative after the failed Russia collusion probe, directly tying the Ukraine impeachment to the collapsed Mueller investigation.

Atkinson had even sent his own criminal referral to DOJ on the Trump-Zelensky call based solely on hearsay — a referral the Justice Department later found had no basis for charges against Trump.

The ODNI referrals do not guarantee prosecution but direct the DOJ to review possible crimes including false statements, withholding evidence, or abuse of authority in the impeachment process.

For millions of Americans who watched two impeachments, years of investigations, and what they viewed as a politicized intelligence apparatus targeting a sitting president, Gabbard’s action marks a long-overdue step toward accountability and restoring trust in the rule of law.