Bondi scrambles to explain what Trump meant when he blamed her for Gabbard’s role in FBI’s Georgia raid

Attorney General Pam Bondi has struggled to explain the confusion over why Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was sent to an FBI raid in Georgia last month.

Questions have continued to swirl around why the National Intelligence boss was at the scene at all in Fulton County on January 28, where agents seized ballots and voting information from the 2020 election.

Bondi failed to clarify the situation at a Friday briefing after Trump said that Gabbard was sent “at Pam’s insistence.”

The president's comments appeared to contradict Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who earlier said that the intelligence director was “not part of this investigation.”

“There seems to be a little confusion with DNI Gabbard down in Atlanta last week for the Fulton County Search,” a reporter asked Bondi at the briefing. “Originally, this office said that she was not part of the investigation. [Gabbard] put in a letter to Congress that President Trump directed her to do so, and then now, President Trump yesterday said that it was at your insistence that she went down there. So what is the case here?”

Bondi did not directly answer the question but replied that she and Gabbard are “inseparable.”

open image in gallery

“We are constantly together, we constantly talk. We collaborate as a cabinet; we're all extremely close. Know what each other…what we're doing at all times, pretty much, to keep not only our country safe, but our world safe,” Bondi said. “And she was down there with Deputy Director Andrew Bailey of the FBI, and, I'm not going to talk about any other details of that matter right now, because Georgia is a very important issue to us.”

The president said Thursday that Gabbard “took a lot of heat two days ago because she went in at Pam’s insistence.”

“She went in and she looked at votes, that want to be checked out, from Georgia,” said Trump. “The media asked, ‘Why is she doing it?’ Right, Pam? Because Pam wanted her to do it, and you know why? Because she’s smart.”

Trump administration officials have given six different explanations for Gabbard’s attendance, according to CNN.

Following Trump’s comments, a spokesperson for Gabbard told CNN that the president and Bondi asked Gabbard to go to Georgia.

“There’s no contradiction,” said spokesperson Olivia Coleman. “As the President said, he asked for Director Gabbard to be there. Attorney General Bondi also asked for her to be there. Two things can be true at the same time.”

The raid centers around Trump’s long-maintained falsehood that he actually won the 2020 election against former President Joe Biden and that there was election fraud.

open image in gallery

Lawmakers raised concerns with Gabbard overseeing the FBI raid, in part because her role limits her intervention to foreign intelligence-related matters, but also because it appears to be his administration’s attempt to rewrite the 2020 election to fit his false narrative.

Reports from independent commissions and judges have all said there is no evidence of such allegations.

But the public’s interest was piqued when Gabbard was pictured somewhat discreetly at the raid, dressed in a plain black coat while wearing a baseball cap.

As the chief of intelligence, Gabbard’s role is typically focused on overseeing America’s 18 spy agencies, such as the CIA and NSA, and then making recommendations on national security matters.

Gabbard’s office has defended her presence at the raid, saying federal law allows her to oversee election integrity. However, the statute specifically cites foreign interference in those matters.

In justifying Gabbard’s involvement in the 2020 election investigation, Trump complained that he was unfairly investigated during his first administration for ties to Russia, after allegations of interference from the country in the 2016 election arose.

“They say, ‘Donald Trump is using the Justice Department to get even.’ And I don’t. But wouldn’t I have a right to?” Trump said.

“Think of it, there's never been, in history, a president treated like I got treated,” he added.

Ariana Baio contributed to this report