NSA detected foreign intelligence phone call about a person close to Trump | US national security

Last spring, the National Security Agency (NSA) flagged an unusual phone call between two members of foreign intelligence who were meeting with a person close to Donald Trump, according to a whistleblower attorney briefed on details of the call.

The highly sensitive memo, which roiled Washington last week, was brought to the attention of Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence (DNI).

But instead of allowing NSA officials to further distribute the information, Gabbard took a hard copy of the intelligence directly to the president’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, according to the whistleblower’s attorney, Andrew Bakaj.

A day after meeting Wiles, Gabbard told the NSA not to release the intelligence report. Bakaj said he instead instructed NSA officials to pass the highly classified details directly to his office.

Details of this meeting between Gabbard and the NSA were shared directly with the Guardian and has not been reported before. So did Wiles’ receipt of the intelligence report.

The Guardian reported earlier Saturday that, based on Bakaj’s recollections of the complaint, the phone call was between a person with ties to foreign intelligence and a person close to Trump, who confirmed this through multiple calls. However, after it was published, Bakaj said he misspoke.

He explained his understanding of the complaint in a statement: “NSA detected a telephone conversation between two members of foreign intelligence involving someone close to the Trump White House,” he said. “NSA does not monitor individuals without reason.”

Because of his background and expertise, members of the intelligence community are often referred to him for legal advice, Bakaj said. He previously served in the CIA inspector general’s office.

The person close to Trump does not appear to be an administration official or special government employee, according to a person familiar with the matter.

A press spokesperson from the office of the director of national intelligence (ODNI) told the Guardian in a statement: “This story is false. Every action taken by DNI Gabbard was entirely within her lawful and legal authority, and these politically motivated attempts to manipulate highly classified information undermine the essential national security work done every day by great Americans in the Intelligence Community.”

“This is yet another attempt to distract from the fact that both the Biden administration and the Trump-appointed Intelligence Community Inspector General have already found the allegations against DNI Gabbard to be unfounded,” the statement said.

On April 17, a whistleblower contacted the inspector general’s office claiming that Gabbard had withheld highly classified intelligence from routine transmission, according to Bakaj, who was briefed on details about the highly sensitive phone call that had been flagged by the NSA. Bakaj said the whistleblower filed a formal complaint about Gabbard’s actions on May 21.

The intelligence report was kept under lock and key for eight months even after tip-off. pushed to disclose details to congressional intelligence committees.

Acting inspector general Tamara A Johnson dismissed the complaint after a 14-day review period, she wrote in a June 6 letter. letter The person who made the tip was told that “the Inspector General was unable to determine whether the allegations were credible.”

The letter stipulated that, given the highly sensitive nature of the complaint, the whistleblower could bring her concerns to Congress only after receiving DNI guidance on how to proceed.

Lawmakers say watchdog’s independence could be in jeopardy since Gabbard appointed One of his top advisers, Dennis Kirk, will be working there May 9, two weeks after the whistleblower first contacted the inspector general’s hotline.

Gabbard’s office issued its first public notice of the highly sensitive complaint in a letter to lawmakers on Tuesday, a day after the Wall Street Journal reported it. reported in a secret briefing. happened sent ODNI’s X account includes allegations that the inspector general failed to inform Gabbard of her obligations to refer the complaint to Congress.

Bakaj said the ODNI office cited several reasons for the delay in intelligence sharing, including the complaints being classified as top secret, the government shutdown and the intelligence community inspector general’s failure to brief Gabbard on reporting requirements.

Examining details of the incident and the complaint subsequently shared with the Guardian, two lawyers and two former intelligence experts identified what they believed to be a number of procedural anomalies that raised questions about Gabbard’s handling of national intelligence and whistleblower disclosure; this was reported to the inspector general as a matter of “urgent concern.”

Members of the “gang of eight,” a group of Senate and House leaders with classified information from the executive branch, received a heavily redacted version for review Tuesday night. They disagreed over the legality of Gabbard’s behavior and the credibility of the whistleblower’s complaint.

Two Republican lawmakers, including Arkansas senator Tom Cotton, rejected its credibility and supported Gabbard’s behavior. Description of X “DNI has taken the necessary steps to ensure that the material is handled and transmitted lawfully.”

But Democrats raised questions about the delay. “The law is clear: When a whistleblower files a complaint and wants to get it to Congress, the agency has 21 days to get it to Congress,” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, said at a news conference Thursday. “This whistleblower complaint was filed in May. We did not receive it until February.”

Warner said the months-long delay reflected an effort to “cover up the complaint.”

The content of the whistleblower’s complaint remains largely unknown. Bakaj, the whistleblower’s attorney, said Gabbard’s office redacted most of the complaints submitted to intelligence committee members Tuesday out of administrative privilege.

“I don’t know the content of the complaint, but they are using executive privilege to point out that this involves a presidential action,” he said.

On February 3, Bakaj again requested guidance from Gabbard’s office on how to share the whistleblower’s full report while taking appropriate action.

“As you know very well, the disclosure of our client directly affects our national security and the American people,” Bakaj said. wrote. “This means our client’s entire whistleblower statement must be delivered to Congress, and we, as their attorneys, must speak to members and clean staff.”

Bakaj said the DNI office did not respond to his letter until Friday. He plans to contact members of the Senate and House intelligence committees on Monday to schedule a classified briefing about Gabbard’s behavior and “underlying intelligence concerns.”

According to staff in Warner’s office, members of the eight-man gang contacted the NSA to request key intelligence that the informant said Gabbard withheld.

Lawmakers can make routine requests for classified information directly from intelligence agencies such as the NSA. The request precludes the involvement of the ODNI as well as the inspector general’s office.

Stephen F Lynch, a leading Democrat on the House oversight committee, wrote to Johnson, the acting inspector general, to warn him that the integrity of the watchdog bureau could be compromised by Kirk’s appointment to the group in May.

Kirk served in the first Trump administration and co-authored Project 2025, a policy roadmap to restructure the federal government.

“The appointment to a high-level post in the federal government of a highly partisan advocate who prioritizes personal loyalty to President Trump over independence and professionalism and who apparently answers to DNI Gabbard rather than you. [the intelligence community inspector general’s office] It raises troubling questions about the independence of the IC IG,” Lynch wrote.

Johnson did not respond to a request for comment for this story. He was replaced as intelligence community inspector general in October by Christopher Fox.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to clarify that the phone call was not between someone and a person close to Trump, but rather between two people with ties to foreign intelligence who were arguing with someone close to Donald Trump. The previous version was based on multiple telephone conversations with a source who later said he had misspoke and clarified the true details of the call.