Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday he was unaware of why National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard was present for an FBI raid on a Georgia election facility.
The FBI carried out a court-authorized search warrant on Wednesday at the facility in Fulton County, Georgia, a state where President Donald Trump has regularly challenged the 2020 election results. Photos shared online show Gabbard at the search, raising questions about her involvement.
Pressed on why the director of national intelligence was seen at the raid, Blanche said, “I don’t know.”
“She is not part of the grand jury investigation, but she is for sure a key part of our efforts at election integrity and making sure that we have free and fair elections,” Blanche said on CNN’s State of the Union. “She‘s an expert in that space, and it‘s a big part of what she and her team look at every day.”
“But beyond that, I don‘t — like I said before, this is a grand jury investigation being conducted by a U.S. attorney, and that‘s where we have to leave it for now,” Blanche said.
Blanche also said there is “a lot of classified information around voter integrity” and said Gabbard can “go where she needs to go.” He added that people “want to make something out” of Gabbard at Fulton County “that does not exist.”
TRUMP LOOKING ‘BACKWARDS’ WITH FBI RAID ON GEORGIA ELECTION FACILITY: JIM ANTLE
Trump said a day after the raid that Gabbard is “working very hard on trying to keep the election safe” regarding why she was in Georgia and added that “you’re going to see some interesting things happening.”
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), who is seeking reelection this November, has deemed the FBI’s search as “a shot across the bow at the midterm elections.” He also said people must prepare for any “shenanigans” the president pursues.
