The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) sent criminal referrals to the Justice Department for former Inspector General Michael Atkinson and the whistleblower whose complaint helped spark the 2019 impeachment of Donald Trump.

The referrals follow the release of documents by DNI Tulsi Gabbard exposing a “coordinated effort” by some within the intelligence community to “manufacture a conspiracy” for the basis of Trump’s impeachment, Fox News Digital reported.

“Today we reveal the truth,” Gabbard posted Monday on X:

Newly-declassified records expose how deep state actors within the Intelligence Community concocted a false narrative that Congress used to usurp the will of the American people and impeach duly-elected President @realDonaldTrump in 2019.

Today, we reveal the truth 👇… pic.twitter.com/oLXW5nqi2n

— DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) April 13, 2026

ODNI’s general counsel wrote in the referral sent Wednesday: “I want to refer information that may constitute possible criminal activity in violation of federal criminal law committed by one or more former employees of the intelligence community.”

“The possible criminal activity concerns the circumstances described in the following congressional briefings: Discussion with Intelligence Community Inspector General, House Permanent Select Comm. on Intel., 116th Cong. (2019); Briefing by the Intelligence Community Inspector General, House Permanent Select Comm. on Intel., 116th Cong. (2019),” it continued, according to the documents reviewed by Fox News Digital.

An intelligence official told Fox News Digital that the language within the referrals is specifically aimed at Atkinson and the whistleblower, and said that the documents released by Gabbard confirmed Atkinson “failed to conduct basic due diligence and willfully exceeded his statutory jurisdiction to mischaracterize the president’s phone call with Zelensky as an ‘urgent concern’ to Congress.”

Furthermore, Atkinson reportedly found that the whistleblower showed signs of “political bias” and was in “favor of a rival political candidate.”

In August 2019, then-Intel Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson received a whistleblower complaint concerning President Trump’s July 2019 phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The complaint alleged that Trump had pressured Zelenskyy to initiate an investigation into the Biden family’s business activities in Ukraine. Specifically, Trump encouraged Zelenskyy to examine Hunter Biden’s role with the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings, as well as Joe Biden’s involvement in the removal of Ukraine’s former Prosecutor General, Viktor Shokin.

Democrats framed Trump’s request as a quid pro quo because millions in U.S. military aid for Ukraine were suspended, Fox Digital reported. Democrats also accused Trump of meddling in the 2020 election by asking foreign leaders to investigate the Bidens.

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