DNI Gabbard sends DOJ criminal referrals targeting Trump-impeachment whistleblower and former ICIG Atkinson

On April 15, 2026, a spokesperson for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard confirmed that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence had sent at least one criminal referral to the Justice Department. The referral seeks investigation of the anonymous whistleblower whose 2019 complaint helped set in motion Donald Trump's first impeachment, and of Michael Atkinson, the former Intelligence Community Inspector General who reviewed that complaint at the time and found it credible. ODNI said the referral "related to one or more former employees of the intelligence community and their role in the 2019 impeachment of President Trump."

The whistleblower used the statutorily protected Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act channel, and Atkinson was carrying out his statutory oversight role in transmitting the complaint. Atkinson was fired by Trump in April 2020 amid concerns about presidential interference with independent watchdogs. The documents Gabbard released publicly to accompany the referral do not provide direct evidence of criminal wrongdoing, and it is rare for a whistleblower and an inspector general to be made the subject of a criminal referral.

The action sits within a broader pattern of referrals targeting figures connected to investigations of the president: CIA Director John Ratcliffe filed a parallel referral against former CIA Director John Brennan, and ODNI has previously released documents seeking to undermine the 2017 intelligence-community assessment of Russian election interference. The ranking House Intelligence Committee Democrat and government-transparency advocates have warned that referrals against a whistleblower and an inspector general carry a chilling effect on future lawful reporting through protected channels.