WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday she is not worried that the involvement of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in an FBI could taint the FBI鈥檚 investigation.
Her comments came a day after President Donald Trump offered a new explanation for why Gabbard was at the main elections hub in Georgia鈥檚 most populous county last week, saying Bondi had requested her presence.
Gabbard this week that Trump had asked her to join the search, where agents seized and other documents in Fulton County, Georgia. But speaking Thursday at the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump asserted that Gabbard 鈥渨ent in at Pam鈥檚 insistence.鈥�
At an Friday, Bondi said Gabbard’s presence in Georgia reflects government collaboration.
鈥淒NI Gabbard and I are inseparable. We are constantly together, as are the people behind us,鈥� Bondi said, with FBI Director Kash Patel standing nearby. 鈥淲e constantly talk, we collaborate as a Cabinet. We鈥檙e all extremely close. Know what each other, what we鈥檙e doing at all times, pretty much to keep not only our country safe, but our world safe.鈥�
Gabbard’s involvement in the case, which is tied to Trump’s has raised concerns from Democratic lawmakers about the blurring of lines between intelligence work, which typically focuses on foreign threats, and domestic law enforcement operations, like the FBI search.
Democrats also fear her involvement may be laying the groundwork for the federal government to assert that the 2020 race that Trump lost was somehow tainted by foreign meddling or to .
In the event that criminal charges are brought, her presence 鈥� and her assertion that her attendance was requested by Trump as well as her acknowledged role in facilitating a call between FBI agents and the president 鈥� could open the door to defense arguments that the investigation was inherently politically motivated.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a television interview days after the FBI search that he did not know why Gabbard was there and said she was 鈥渘ot part of the grand jury investigation.鈥� But he also has defended her as an important player in the administration鈥檚 efforts to uphold election integrity.
Gabbard said in her letter to lawmakers that she accompanied senior FBI officials 鈥渦nder my broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security.鈥�
Gabbard’s office declined to answer questions about the changing explanations for her involvement and pointed to Bondi’s comments. Gabbard, a former congresswoman from Hawaii, ran for president as a Democrat and then endorsed Joe Biden, the ultimate winner in 2020, before switching to the Republicans and joining Trump’s second administration.
Her office also declined to respond when asked who Gabbard believes won in 2020, or if she now believes .
Democrats on congressional intelligence committees have questioned Gabbard’s role in the investigation and said that if she has a legitimate reason for joining the FBI, she is obligated to inform Congress.
鈥淭he intelligence community operates outside the borders of the US for good reason, and the Director of National Intelligence has no business at a law enforcement operation unless there is a legitimate foreign nexus, of which we鈥檝e seen no indication,鈥� Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.
Himes and his Senate counterpart, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, said they will continue to push for answers about Gabbard’s involvement in the investigation and what it might mean for upcoming elections.
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