Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard arranged for FBI agents who searched the Fulton County Elections and Operations Hub in Georgia last week to have a phone call with President Donald Trump, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation.
The president, according to multiple sources, addressed the agents on speakerphone and said they were doing great work in searching and investigating Georgia’s elections.
Fulton County officials say FBI agents removed 700 boxes containing ballots and other materials associated with the 2020 election after obtaining a search warrant approved by a federal magistrate judge.
Investigators are going ballot by ballot searching for any irregularities, sources said.
The phone call was first reported by The New York Times.
It is very unusual for the president and the DNI to speak to line agents from the FBI about an ongoing criminal investigation — especially one that implicates an election in which Trump was a losing candidate.
Officials from the ODNI, responding to a request for comment from ABC News, did not specifically address whether the phone call took place.
Tulsi Gabbard inside a vehicle loaded with boxes outside the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executed a search warrant there in relation to the 2020 election in Union City, Georgia, January 28, 2026.
Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters
“As Director of National Intelligence, DNI Gabbard has a vital role in identifying vulnerabilities in our critical infrastructure, protecting it against exploitation, and coordinating with all Intelligence Community elements under her leadership to integrate and analyze intelligence related to election security,” ODNI Press Secretary Olivia Coleman said in a statement.
“President Trump’s directive to secure our elections was clear, and DNI Gabbard has and will proudly continue to take actions within her authorities, alongside our interagency partners, including the FBI, to support ensuring the integrity of our elections,” the statement said.
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle, in a statement, said, “President Trump pledged to secure America’s elections, and he has tasked the most talented team of patriots to do just that. DNI Gabbard and FBI Director [Kash] Patel are working together to implement the President’s election integrity priorities, and their work continues to serve him and the entire country well.”
Wednesday’s search of the election site came after Trump has repeatedly made baseless claims that there was voter fraud in the 2020 election, specifically in Georgia, that contributed to his election loss.
Georgia officials audited and certified the results following the election, and numerous lawsuits challenging the election results in the state were rejected by the courts.
Congressional Democrats are demanding answers about why the president’s spy chief — who normally deals with foreign intelligence threats — is involved in the election probe.
At a press conference Friday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, asked about Gabbard’s presence during the FBI raid, said, “This administration coordinates everything we do as a group.”
