Tulsi Gabbard, the embattled director of national intelligence, has shuttered the task force she created to pursue Donald Trump’s political vendettas.
Gabbard, 44, confirmed to Reuters on Tuesday that she has wound down the Director’s Initiatives Group, a task force she launched under the banner of depoliticizing intelligence agencies.
The group, which issued reports attacking the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Biden administration’s handling of domestic terrorism, had been accused of serving as a vehicle for Trump’s political retribution campaign.
News of the DIG’s scrapping comes as Gabbard faces intense scrutiny over her handling of a whistleblower complaint and her seizure of voting machine data in pursuit of Trump’s 2020 election conspiracy theories.
The DIG was shut down after alleged missteps, two sources told Reuters. This reportedly included the DIG falsely linking a federal security worker to the planting of pipe bombs outside DNC and RNC headquarters in D.C. before the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. The Guardian has reported that the DIG was dissolved late last year after the group’s alleged misstep.
However, a spokesperson for Gabbard’s office denied any missteps. In a statement provided to the Daily Beast, Gabbard said the DIG was always intended to be temporary and that its staff had been reassigned elsewhere within the ODNI.
“The Director’s Initiatives Group was created as a temporary effort to surge resources to deliver on high priority projects with near term deadlines, including Presidential Executive Orders,” she said.
“My commitment to transparency, truth, and eliminating politicization and weaponization within the Intelligence Community remains central to all that we do. This mission continues through every office at ODNI, where the safety, security, and freedom of the American people is our number one priority.”
Reuters reported that many members of Congress found the DIG to be secretive and had passed legislation in December requiring Gabbard to submit a classified report with details about the task force’s leadership, staffing, and hiring practices.
Gabbard, who has been sidelined from national security decisions in the White House, according to The Wall Street Journal, has missed the deadline for the report.
Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia previously told Reuters the group “seems to be just a pass for a witch hunt.”
The DIG initially oversaw Gabbard’s investigation into Trump’s debunked claims that the 2020 election was stolen, focusing on vulnerabilities with voting machines, The Guardian reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Since shuttering the DIG, Gabbard has continued her conspiracy theory pet project. Last month, she appeared at an FBI raid on an election center outside Atlanta, Georgia, which housed ballots related to Trump’s 2020 electoral loss, infuriating Democrats who demanded an explanation.
Gabbard, who served as a Democrat in the House from 2013 to 2021 and became a Republican in 2024, responded last week that her presence “was requested by the president.”
But Trump threw her under the bus the following day, claiming he had no idea why Gabbard was at the raid.
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