Gabbard declassified the 2019 impeachment whistleblower testimony and sent a criminal referral to DOJ targeting the IG who approved it

Gabbard Declassified the 2019 Whistleblower File and Referred the IG Who Approved It to DOJ

In April 2026, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified the full testimony and supporting documents from the 2019 whistleblower complaint that triggered the first Trump impeachment. Simultaneously, she sent a criminal referral to the Department of Justice targeting former Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson.

What the Documents Show

According to the DNI press release, the declassified materials show that Atkinson altered the whistleblower intake form to remove a requirement that complaints be based on direct, first-hand knowledge. The change allowed the 2019 complaint — which relied on third-hand accounts of the Trump-Zelensky phone call — to qualify as an "urgent concern" under statute. Atkinson made that change without notifying Congress or the DNI.

Atkinson's Firing and This Referral

Trump fired Atkinson in April 2020, citing loss of confidence. Congress pushed back. Democrats called it retaliation. The 2026 referral is the Trump administration's formal legal follow-through: a written assertion that Atkinson's rule change constituted a criminal act, not an administrative judgment call.

The Political Dimension

Gabbard's action is not neutral. Declassifying files to support a criminal referral against the official who processed a complaint against you is a use of intelligence authority with obvious political valence. Whether or not Atkinson broke the law, the DNI's tool here is classification power — and she used it.