(Removes part of quote inaccurately attributed to Gabbard and amends to clarify that Gabbard did not specifically deny threats in headline, paragraphs 1-5)
By Patricia Zengerle, Doina Chiacu and Jonathan Landay
WASHINGTON, March 18 (Reuters) – The U.S. intelligence community has identified no foreign threat to the upcoming congressional elections, according to testimony from President Donald Trump’s spy chief on Wednesday.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard did not cite any foreign threat despite multiple years of U.S. intelligence findings that countries, including Russia, China and Iran, have worked to sway Americans’ votes.
At a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Warner said this was the first time since 2017 that the annual U.S. threat assessment did not mention any foreign election interference.
“Are you saying there is no foreign threat to our elections in the midterms this year?” he asked Gabbard.
“The intelligence community has been and continues to remain focused on any collection and intelligence that show a potential foreign threat,” Gabbard replied.
DEMOCRAT: GABBARD UNINTERESTED IN FIGHTING FOREIGN INFLUENCE
Earlier, Warner assailed the U.S. intelligence community for not addressing foreign threats to November’s midterm elections and criticized election-related actions by Gabbard.
Warner, the panel’s vice chairman, said intelligence agencies did not respond to multiple requests from the committee for a briefing on legitimate foreign threats to the midterms.
“That silence … clearly demonstrates the DNI is not interested in protecting American democracy by combating foreign influence,” said Warner, of Virginia, referring to Gabbard.
Instead, he said, Gabbard has inserted herself into domestic election issues, including seizing voting machines in Georgia and Puerto Rico.
Gabbard was present at an FBI raid in January on an election facility in Georgia, saying she was there at Trump’s request and that her attendance was within her authority after top Democrats on the Senate and House of Representatives intelligence panels raised concerns about her involvement.
The FBI searched Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center, pursuing Trump’s false claims that his 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread voting fraud.
“There was no foreign connection to justify the involvement of our nation’s top spy. Instead, the predicate for the warrant was a slop of debunked conspiracy theories,” Warner said.
“If the intelligence community is not being deployed to mobilize, getting to mobilize against foreign threats, why is it being deployed at all on a domestic issue?”
Warner said Gabbard’s involvement suggested a misuse of national security powers to interfere in domestic politics and could help clear the way for what he called Trump’s “unconstitutional efforts to seize control of the upcoming elections.”
The U.S. has in the past accused foreign actors of trying to exert influence over U.S. elections, particularly through information and cyber operations.
Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election that first brought Trump to office has been widely documented by intelligence agencies and congressional inquiries.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Doina Chiacu, Jonathan Landay; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Rod Nickel)
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