DNI Tulsi Gabbard refers alleged intelligence leakers for prosecution; details possible motives
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told "Fox & Friends" on Friday that she has referred the intelligence community members who allegedly leaked classified information to the media, to the FBI and the Department of Justice for official criminal investigations.
"We conducted our own internal investigation. We have referred them now to the Department of Justice and the FBI for an official criminal investigation, because these are crimes and people need to be held accountable to put a stop to this," Gabbard said.
The intelligence chief noted that "one of the reasons why the American people voted resoundingly for President Trump was to root out the kind of politicization and weaponization of intelligence that has really undermined the trust the American people have in the intelligence community and the national security state."
Gabbard asserted that she would not allow this abuse of trust to continue under her watch, and offered insight into how the leaks were leveraged against the president's agenda.
"When we look at the examples that I've seen, just in the short time that I've been in this position, what they consist of is essentially very selective leaks to their friends in the propaganda media that, twisted, manipulated intelligence directly to undermine the president's policies and his aggressive work to keep the American people safe," she explained.
Fox News' Brian Kilmeade asked Gabbard whether the third intelligence community member, who is also suspected of being involved with the leaks, knows that they're also being criminally investigated.
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"I don't know if they know, but these are the first three investigations we are referring to the Department of Justice," Gabbard told Kilmeade. "There are more… investigations are continuing."
Kilmeade followed up, asking Gabbard: "Can you give me the nature of what they did? And will we know their names?"
The intelligence chief replied that she could not disclose details at the moment due to the criminal investigations currently underway, but was able to give details on which publications the information was leaked to, and the suspected motives behind the leaks.
"In each one of these examples, I can tell you, we know that the intent based on the result that we've seen through their leaks to the Washington Post, to the New York Times and other outlets, Huffington Post and others, has been directly to undermine President Trump and the work that he's doing in cooperation with the director of the CIA and the FBI," Gabbard alleged.