EXCLUSIVE: Gabbard explains election security checks, presence in Fulton County search

INTERMEDIATE: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard detailed her ongoing security investigation in a letter to lawmakers on Monday, saying President Trump “directly ordered” her to be present when a search warrant was issued in Fulton County, Georgia last week as part of the investigation.

Gabbard sent a letter, obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital, that was addressed to Senate Intelligence Committee Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn, a member of the House Intelligence Committee. The letter was also sent to House and Senate leadership, as well as GOP leadership on both committees.

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The letter is in response to one sent last week by Warner and Himes, in which they asked Gabbard to tell them why he was present at the FBI search of the election office in Fulton County, Ga. last month.

Gabbard announced in April 2025 that the ODNI was investigating electronic voting systems to protect the integrity of the election.

In the letter, obtained by Fox News Digital, Gabbard said President Trump “directly ordered” her to be at the FBI’s post when a search warrant was issued at the Clerk of Court’s Office in Fulton County, Georgia last month – on January 28, 2026.

“For a short time, I accompanied FBI Deputy Director Bailey and Atlanta Acting Special Agent in Charge Pete Ellis in observing FBI agents execute that search warrant, which was issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia for probable cause,” he wrote.

Gabbard said “his presence was requested by the President and executed under my broad mandate to collect, synthesize, and analyze intelligence related to election security, including counterintelligence (CI), negative influence and other cybersecurity.”

“The FBI’s Intelligence/Counterintelligence Division is one of the 18 divisions that I oversee,” he said.

Gabbard said that in a dozen FBI offices around the country, including the Atlanta Field Office, the FBI’s top officer (assistant director in charge or special agent in charge) “has two hats as my DNI Domestic Representative.”

“The Domestic DNI-Rep program was established in 2011 through a Memorandum of Understanding between ODNI and the FBI,” Gabbard explained. “Domestic DNI-Reps are distributed by region and focus on specific domestic issues of concern or interest, including threats to critical infrastructure.”

Gabbard said he has visited “a handful” of his Domestic DNI-Reps across the country.

“When I visited the FBI Field Office in Atlanta, I thanked the FBI agents for their good work and their good work, and I was able to make a short phone call for the President to personally thank the agents for their work,” Gabbard said. “He didn’t ask questions, and we didn’t issue instructions.”

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Gabbard stressed that the ODNI’s Office of General Counsel “found that my actions were consistent and within my legal authority as Director of National Intelligence.”

Last week, FBI agents were seen conducting an investigation at a polling place in Fulton County, Georgiaan area that has been the focus of concerns and complaints about voter fraud since 2020.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., questions Russ Vought, not pictured, at a Senate hearing in 2025 in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The search warrant authorized the seizure of election records, voting lists and other information related to the 2020 election, according to a copy of the warrant reviewed by Fox News.

Gabbard went on to address some of the questions originally asked by Warner and Himes, first, explaining that election security is “a matter of national security.”

He writes: “Meddling in US elections is a threat to our republic and a threat to national security. “The President and his Administration are committed to protecting the integrity of US elections to ensure that no foreign or domestic power undermines the right of the American people to determine who our elected leaders are.”

Gabbard said President Trump “has tasked the ODNI with taking all appropriate steps” under his statutory authority “to ensure the integrity of our elections and is directed specifically at the preservation of the Fulton County search warrant.”

Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., talks to reporters after a briefing at the US Capitol. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Gabbard also noted that the ODNI has been “actively reviewing intelligence reports and evaluating the integrity of the election” since taking office.

“As part of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center’s responsibility to lead, manage, and coordinate security issues related to election security, NCSC staff traveled with me to Fulton County to support this effort,” Gabbard wrote. “They were not there when the warrant was issued for them to leave.”

Gabbard goes on to emphasize that the DNI has “broad authority to coordinate, collate, and analyze intelligence related to election security.” Gabbard also added that ODNI is “the lead intelligence agency in the Office of Cyber ​​Cooperation Planning,” which coordinates and oversees the nation’s strategy to protect critical cyber infrastructure, “including cyber infrastructure used for elections.”

Gabbard also told lawmakers that the ODNI “will not irresponsibly share incomplete intelligence assessments about foreign or other interference in US elections.”

“As I said publicly on April 10, 2025, there is information and intelligence reports that suggest that the electronic voting systems used in the United States have long been vulnerable to exploitation that could lead to serious actors being able to manipulate the results of the votes cast with the aim of changing the outcome of the election,” he wrote.

“The ODNI and the IC continue to gather and evaluate all available intelligence on this threat to ensure the security and integrity of our elections,” he said.

In April 2025, Gabbard said the ODNI was investigating the integrity of the election. He said at the time the ODNI “had evidence of how vulnerable electronic voting systems have been to hackers for a long time and are vulnerable to exploitation, in order to sniff the results of votes.” Gabbard made these comments at a Cabinet meeting, stressing to the president that this information “advances your work to deliver ballot papers across the country so that voters can have faith in the state of our elections.”

Meanwhile, in the letter, Gabbard explained that the intelligence evaluation process “ensures that the IC’s completed intelligence products are objective, independent of political considerations, and based on all available sources.”

“I will share our intelligence with Congress when it is complete,” he said.

Gabbard said the National Security Act of 1947 emphasizes that the law “does not require the president to obtain approval from the congressional intelligence committees before beginning a significant intelligence operation.”

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“Additionally, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia issued a search warrant to the Fulton County Clerk of Court’s Office under seal,” he writes. “As such, I have not seen the warrant issued or the evidence of probable cause that the DOJ brought to the Court for acceptance.”

He added: “Thus, ODNI had no ability, authority, or responsibility to inform the committees about the search warrant before it went into effect.”

President Trump last week told Gabbard about his work securing the US election

“He’s working hard trying to keep the election safe. And he’s done a great job,” Trump said. “And they, as you know, get on the ballot, get a judge’s order signed in Georgia … And you’re going to see some interesting things happen. They’ve been trying to get there for a long time.”

Meanwhile, the Justice Department sued Fulton County in December seeking access to ballots related to the 2020 case, though the FBI search appears to be unrelated.

Fulton County is fighting the lawsuit and says the Justice Department didn’t make a valid argument to access the records.

Fox News’ Brianna Deppisch contributed to this report.