Tulsi Gabbard Seeks Criminal Probe Into Trump Impeachment

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released declassified documents in April 2026 alleging that members of the Intelligence Community and congressional leaders conspired to manufacture the basis for the 2019 impeachment of Donald Trump. Gabbard issued criminal referrals to the Department of Justice targeting former Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson and whistleblower Eric Ciaramella, characterizing the impeachment as a partisan attempt to undermine the will of the voters.

The released materials suggest that Atkinson fast-tracked Ciaramella's complaint while ignoring Department of Justice guidance and failing to establish the whistleblower's firsthand knowledge of the July 2019 call between Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Documents indicate Ciaramella, a registered Democrat, secretly met with the staff of then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff before filing his complaint and failed to disclose these contacts on official forms.

In response, Senator Mark Warner described the criminal referrals as a retaliatory act that could discourage future whistleblowers. Meanwhile, legal expert Alan Dershowitz suggested that Trump now has strong grounds to seek the expungement of the 2019 impeachment from the Congressional record, arguing that the defense was denied the opportunity to confront the accuser with exculpatory evidence.