By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-06-18 13:48:47 | Updated at 2026-06-18 15:31:36
1 hour ago
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has a week left in office, but her enemies are bracing for her final act before she concludes her unique 16-month leadership that strained the intelligence community.
Gabbard’s final bow, the Daily Mail can reveal, is expected to be the public release of secret intelligence documents surrounding COVID-19 origins, gain-of-function research, and Anthony Fauci's coverup of the pandemic's origin. She is also planning additional transparency surrounding the CIA's MKUltra mind-control program.
The timing is no accident. Gabbard delayed her resignation by a month after announcing in May that she was stepping down to care for her husband Abraham, who has been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer.
Allies say she had unfinished business.
The quest has already provoked a confrontation. Whistleblower James Erdman III, a former CIA officer, claims the agency retrieved 40 boxes of files related to JFK assassination records and MKUltra declassification efforts, a claim the CIA disputes.
MKUltra, launched in the 1950s, used psychedelic drugs, hypnosis and electroshock therapy in pursuit of mind control techniques.
Much of the documentary records were destroyed in 1972 when CIA Director Richard Helms ordered files shredded after President Nixon announced his intention to replace him.
What remains classified and what exactly Gabbard intends to release is still unknown.
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Tulsi Gabbard after she was sworn in as Director of National Intelligence
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard focused her position on declassifying secrets
Sidney Gottlieb of the Central Intelligence Agency was responsible for the agency’s Cold War mind-control and behavior-modification programs
Last Friday’s dump of declassified documents surrounding biolabs in Ukraine were particularly sensitive and a priority for Gabbard since 2022, when she was excoriated by then-Senator Mitt Romney of Utah for ‘parroting false Russian propaganda.’
The released documents confirmed 120 US-funded or owned biolabs in 30 countries many of which she said were manufacturing and manipulating infectious diseases, a claim that was widely ridiculed as Russian propaganda just four years earlier.
Gabbard’s leadership at ODNI, with the goal of creating real oversight of the CIA strained her relationship with Trump's close ally - CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
That created a sense of tension and mistrust as agency officials became more territorial, sources told the Daily Mail.
The CIA felt that the DNI was responsible for intelligence leaks. And the DNI believed that the CIA was resistant or openly hostile to some of their investigations, which were a priority for the President and the public.
Previous directors of the DNI served as agents of the existing national intelligence establishment, usually working in tandem with the CIA.
But Trump had a burning desire for revenge against the ‘deep state’ officials that led him and his family through hell over ‘Russiagate’ and beyond.
The President had also committed to significant disclosure during his 2024 presidential campaign, promising podcaster Joe Rogan he would release the rest of the JFK files.
Ultimately, Gabbard was determined to unveil some of the closely guarded intelligence secrets that had created mistrust in the government for over half a century.
Last year, Gabbard released files demonstrating what she described as ‘treasonous conspiracy’ detailing Obama and Biden-era intelligence officials weaponizing their findings to politically damage President Donald Trump.
In April, Gabbard sent criminal referrals to the Department of Justice regarding two former officials for misusing intelligence to launch Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2019.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in the Situation Room
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard leaving the National Memorial Day Observance
In January, Gabbard also personally oversaw the seizure of 2020 presidential election records in Fulton County, Georgia, a mission she conducted at personal request of the President.
But details of that raid and other election related secrets remain undisclosed, even though it remains one of Trump's highest priorities.
That's partially why Trump appointed one of his most loyal and 'reckless' advisers, Bill Pulte, to serve in an acting capacity, sources familiar with his mission tell the Daily Mail. The President sees Pulte as a final blow against his detested 'deep state.'
Pulte quickly earned the President's trust according to sources familiar with their relationship.
His bulldog reputation triggered bipartisan terror in Congress, as the anxiety led to the expiration of FISA authorities because of what his appearance at the DNI could mean for the intelligence community.
His strength is that he has no intention of ever running for office and zero interest in being politically strategic, a source told the Daily Mail.
Gabbard, although committed to transparency, still harbors political ambition as her allies believe she could run for president again some day.
Trump has appointed Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency Bill Pulte to serve as an acting Director of National Intelligence
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard plans to leave her position on Friday
The President expects Pulte to do the dirty work.
‘He can do a lot of the hard work and we wouldn’t have to saddle somebody that goes in,’ Trump recently confirmed in an interview.
That ‘hard work’ is expected to focus around election investigations, the third rail that Congress does not want to touch.
‘We don’t need a weaponized DNI, we need professionals there,’ Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota lamented to reporters on Capitol Hill earlier this month.
But Trump is eager for Putle to get started.
Trump's commitment to Pulte’s interim work was made evident on Wednesday as he canceled hearings for Jay Clayton to make sure Pulte had time to conduct his planned operation.
The President personally phoned Gabbard to ask if she could move up her exit timeline, which she ultimately agreed to, Axios reported.
Putle is already in the building and staff are getting him up to speed on their efforts.
President Donald Trump watches as CIA Director John Ratcliffe speaks with reporters i
CIA Director John Ratcliffe attends UFC Freedom 250 on the South Lawn of the White House
Trump personally spoke with CIA director John Ratcliffe on the phone asking him to recommend a permanent replacement for the DNI position, a source familiar with their conversation told the Daily Mail.
Ratcliffe recommended Clayton and the President heeded his advice.
Clayton brings both legal and national security credentials from his time at the SDNY, which secured the indictment of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, leading to his capture and extradition.
Republican senators who had seethed over Pulte's appointment welcomed Clayton warmly, relieved that the CIA and the DNI might finally operate in tandem rather than in open conflict.
They may get more than they bargained for. Pulte is expected to act as a wrecking ball at the ODNI, with plans to cut its workforce even further than the 40 percent reductions made under Gabbard.
That would deliver precisely what a bloc of Senate Republicans led by Tom Cotton has long demanded, the severe downsizing, or outright elimination, of the entire Office.
The CIA and its congressional allies have separately pushed to strip the DNI of its intelligence-gathering and transparency functions, returning those powers to Langley.
By the end of Trump's second term, the ODNI could be a shell, and the CIA back in unchallenged control of America's top secrets.
