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President Donald Trump addressed a recent controversy over Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard’s presence at an FBI search of the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center in Georgia.
“She took a lot of heat two days ago because she went in at Pam’s insistence. She went in, and she looked at votes… because Pam wanted her to do it,” Trump said, referring to Attorney General Pam Bondi, while speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday.
The president went on to slam critics who said that Gabbard’s presence during the FBI search was inappropriate and outside of her job description.
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President Donald Trump speaks during the National Prayer Breakfast, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, in Washington. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)
Trump had previously spoken about the controversy at the premiere of first lady Melania Trump’s movie “MELANIA” at The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. He defended Gabbard and said she was “working very hard on trying to keep the election safe.”
In a letter to Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn, which was obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital, Gabbard said that Trump “specifically directed” her to be present at the raid. The letter was written in response to one that Warner and Himes sent in late January, in which they requested Gabbard brief them on why she was present at the FBI search.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard enters the Fulton County Election Hub and Operating Center as the FBI takes Fulton County 2020 Election ballots, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Union City, Ga., near Atlanta. (Mike Stewart/AP Photo)
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In the letter, Gabbard said that her “presence was requested by the President and executed under my broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security, including counterintelligence (CI), foreign and other malign influence, and cybersecurity.”
“The FBI’s Intelligence/Counterintelligence divisions are one of the 18 elements that I oversee,” she said.
Additionally, Gabbard said in the letter that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s (ODNI) Office of General Counsel found that her actions were “well within my statutory authority.”
Gabbard announced in April 2025 that the ODNI was investigating electronic voting systems.
Ballots arrive at the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operation Center on election night on Nov. 5, 2024, in Fairburn, Ga. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)
On Jan. 28, the FBI searched Fulton County’s main election facility in Union City, near Atlanta, for records connected to the 2020 election. The county’s officials have since filed a motion seeking the return of the 2020 ballots and other documents seized during the search.
The motion, which remains under seal, asks a federal court to compel the return of approximately 656 boxes of original 2020 election materials.
A warrant cover sheet provided to the county includes a list of items that the agents were seeking related to the 2020 general election: all ballots, tabulator tapes from the scanners that tally the votes, electronic ballot images created when the ballots were counted and then recounted, and all voter rolls.
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Trump has long insisted that the 2020 election, which he lost to former President Joe Biden, was not conducted fairly.
Fox News Digital’s Alex Nitzberg and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.