A whistleblower came forward through the proper channels about Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard; however, lawmakers will never hear from that whistleblower because Gabbard has blocked it.
The Wall Street Journal said in a bombshell report that an email sent to Democratic congressional staffers on Feb. 13 said that it would not give the unredacted intelligence sought by lawmakers “due to the assertion of executive privilege to portions” of the intelligence itself.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the top-ranking members on the respective intelligence committees, asked who asserted the privilege in a letter that was sent to Gabbard on Tuesday.
"The intelligence at issue was assembled in a report by the National Security Agency early last year and relates to a conversation two foreign nationals had about Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner," the report said, citing a previous story.
The White House said the claims were false.
“Executive privilege” typically refers to the power of the executive, meaning the president, to have confidential conversations that are private and inaccessible from Congress or the judiciary. Using it to limit intelligence would be unusual, current and former intelligence officials told the Journal.
“Executive privilege is rarely used as a reason to not give information to the Gang of Eight,” former general counsel to the National Security Agency, Glenn Gerstell, said, talking about the top four members of each party chosen for the small group.
He added that he wasn't aware of the issues detailed in the whistleblower report, but that it is hard to justify using executive privilege when the conversations don't involve anyone in the White House.
“The request and provision of intelligence reports have been longstanding practice between the [intelligence community] and its congressional oversight committees,” Warner and Himes said in their letter.
The whistleblower alleged that Gabbard restricted intelligence within the administration for political purposes.
The information also includes intelligence on Iran and is derived from a sensitive surveillance method. Gabbard's office shared the complaint with some lawmakers but redacted a lot of it.
