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PULSE POINTS
❓WHAT HAPPENED: The lawyer who represented the whistleblower in the first failed partisan impeachment case against President Donald J. Trump has now set his sights on Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: DNI Gabbard, lawyer Andrew Bakaj, an unnamed whistleblower, and intelligence officials.
📍WHEN & WHERE: Congress was informed of the whistleblower’s complaint last year, with reports of delays regarding the full report reaching Congress being reported on February 2.
💬KEY QUOTE: “Baseless and politically motivated.” – Intelligence officials regarding the complaint.
🎯IMPACT: The case appears to be yet another partisan whistleblower complaint, following a trend from Bakaj.
IN FULL
The lawyer who spearheaded the first failed partisan impeachment effort against President Donald J. Trump is now setting his sights on Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard, complaining that his client’s complaint has yet to be sent to Congress due to classification issues.
The classified whistleblower complaint has remained stuck inside Gabbard’s agency for months, prompting an unusual internal standoff and drawing attention to the lawyer representing the whistleblower, Andrew P. Bakaj, known for his role in President Trump’s first impeachment case.
The current complaint was submitted in May 2025 to the intelligence community’s inspector general and was classified at a level that has complicated its handling. According to people familiar with the matter, the document has been stored in a secure safe accessible only under strict protocols.
Bakaj has publicly complained about the situation, saying, “From my experience, it is confounding for [Gabbard’s office] to take weeks—let alone eight months—to transmit a disclosure to Congress.”
Gabbard’s office has pushed back strongly, rejecting claims that it is obstructing the process. Officials have characterized the allegations as “baseless and politically motivated,” arguing that the complaint presents unique classification and jurisdictional challenges that must be resolved before any congressional notification can occur.
Bakaj, the chief legal counsel at the nonprofit Whistleblower Aid, has repeatedly pressed intelligence officials to transmit the complaint to Congress. He previously served as lead attorney for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer whose 2019 whistleblower disclosure helped trigger the first failed impeachment of President Trump during his first term. Later reports revealed the whistleblower had direct ties to the Biden family’s business affairs in Ukraine.
Bakaj’s continued involvement in sensitive national security complaints appears to reinforce perceptions that whistleblower mechanisms are being abused as political weapons. In the current case, intelligence officials say the inspector general determined some of the allegations against Gabbard lacked credibility, while being unable to assess other claims. Bakaj has disputed that characterization, saying he was never informed that any part of the complaint had been deemed not credible.
Lawmakers became aware of the complaint in November, after Bakaj sent a letter to the House and Senate intelligence committees.
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