Gabbard Arranges Trump Call With FBI Agents After Georgia Election Center Search

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https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/us/politics/trump-fbi-phone-call-georgia-gabbard.html

https://archive.ph/bCSnG

Trump Had Unusual Call With F.B.I. Agents After Election Center Search
Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, brokered the call and President Trump directly questioned frontline agents on the inquiry, The Times has learned.
By William K. Rashbaum, Devlin Barrett and Julian E. Barnes
Feb. 2, 2026 Updated 3:56 p.m. ET

By any measure, the F.B.I.’s search of an election center in Fulton County, Ga., last week was extraordinary. Agents seized truckloads of 2020 ballots, as President Trump harnessed the levers of government to not only buttress his false claims of widespread voter fraud, but also to try to build a criminal case against those he believes wronged him.

What happened the next day was in some ways even more unusual, The New York Times has learned.

Behind closed doors, Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, met with some of the same F.B.I. agents, members of the bureau’s field office in Atlanta, which is conducting the election inquiry, three people with knowledge of the meeting said. They could not say why Ms. Gabbard, who also appeared on site at the search, was there, but her continued presence has raised eyebrows given that her role overseeing the nation’s intelligence agencies does not include on-site involvement in criminal investigative work.

What occurred during the meeting was even further outside the bounds of normal law enforcement procedure. Ms. Gabbard used her cellphone to call Mr. Trump, who did not initially pick up but called back shortly after, the people said.

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