Bondi, speaking Friday, told reporters she does not expect Tulsi Gabbard’s participation in an FBI search of a Georgia elections office to contaminate the investigation. Her remarks came after President Donald Trump offered a different explanation for how Gabbard ended up at the operation at the main elections hub in Georgia’s most populous county.
Bondi’s position was voiced while she appeared with FBI Director Kash Patel standing nearby, and she framed the matter as routine government coordination. She said in remarks that “DNI Gabbard and I are inseparable,” and described the two as “constantly together,” saying they collaborate “as a Cabinet” and that they talk and keep track of each other’s actions.
The investigation at issue stemmed from an FBI search in Fulton County tied to records from the 2020 election, where agents seized hundreds of boxes containing ballots and other documents, according to the reporting. The case has drawn concern from Democratic lawmakers because Gabbard’s role—an intelligence function—intersected with a domestic law-enforcement operation, which typically focuses on foreign threats.
Gabbard has offered her own account to lawmakers, according to the reporting, saying Trump asked her to join the search and describing her participation as part of election-security coordination under “broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security.” The reporting also notes that Gabbard’s office declined to answer questions about changing explanations for her involvement, and pointed to Bondi’s comments.
Trump’s explanation on Thursday, as described in the reporting, said Gabbard “went in at Pam’s insistence” at the time of the search, following an earlier development in which Trump offered an explanation for why Gabbard was at the Georgia elections hub last week. The same reporting said Gabbard previously told lawmakers that Trump had requested her presence as well.
Bondi, speaking at an unrelated press conference Friday, also said Gabbard’s presence in Georgia reflected “government collaboration,” and her comments further emphasized closeness and coordination between the two top officials. Democratic lawmakers have said the continued scrutiny is also aimed at understanding whether the involvement could become relevant later if criminal charges arise, including whether the investigation could be argued as politically motivated.
The reporting also said that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told a television interviewer days after the FBI search that he did not know why Gabbard was there and that she was “not part of the grand jury investigation,” while also defending her as an important player in the administration’s efforts to uphold election integrity.
On the congressional oversight side, the reporting quoted Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, saying the intelligence community operates “outside the borders of the US” and that the director of national intelligence “has no business at a law enforcement operation unless there is a legitimate foreign nexus,” which he said he had not seen. It also said Himes and Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia planned to keep pushing for answers about Gabbard’s role and what it might mean for upcoming elections.
The cluster’s reporting ties the scrutiny to Trump’s broader claims about his 2020 loss, which Democratic lawmakers say have been disproven. It also describes Gabbard as switching political affiliations after serving as a Democrat and endorsing Joe Biden in 2020, later joining Trump’s second administration.