Tulsi Gabbard said recently released documents and transcripts related to the 2019 impeachment of President Donald Trump show coordination between members of the intelligence community and House Democrats, including Rep. Adam Schiff, to build the case that led to the impeachment inquiry.

Gabbard said the release of the materials is intended to provide additional transparency regarding the events surrounding the impeachment proceedings.

“First and foremost, it is always the right time to expose the truth to the American people about the deep state tactics that have been used time and time again, fundamentally to undermine the foundational principles of our Republic,” Gabbard said.

She said the actions described in the documents affected the outcome of the 2019 impeachment and the broader political process.

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“And in so many cases, to undermine the decisions that the American people make when they cast their votes in our elections to decide who they want to lead our country,” she said.

Gabbard said the documents detail what she described as collaboration between intelligence officials and members of Congress.

“And so the documents that we released really pointed to the fact that the 2019 impeachment occurred because there were members of the intelligence community working directly with House Democrats, specifically Adam Schiff, who is on the House Intelligence Committee at the time,” she said.

She characterized the actions described in the records as an effort to create a narrative that led to the impeachment proceedings.

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“Concocting this narrative, weaponizing the whistle blower process, lying and abusing their power all to create this manufactured basis that Nancy Pelosi then used to drive this impeachment against Donald Trump in 2019,” Gabbard said.

Gabbard said the documents include transcripts and additional materials released in coordination with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Rick Crawford.

“I'll hit the high points on these documents, there are details and hundreds of pages of transcripts that that we released in conjunction with House Intel Chairman Rick Crawford,” she said.

She said the whistleblower at the center of the complaint lacked firsthand knowledge of the events described.

“But the bottom line is this number one, the whistle blower, so called whistle blower, who came forward presented no evidence and no first hand knowledge,” Gabbard said.

Gabbard described the sequence of events involving the whistleblower.

“This is a person who had heard about a conversation that President Trump had with Zelensky, then went straight to Adam Schiff on the House Intelligence Committee,” she said.

She said the complaint was then filed with the intelligence community inspector general.

“This is where they came up with this false narrative, and this so called whistleblower then went and filed a complaint with the intelligence community inspector general,” Gabbard said.

Gabbard also addressed testimony from another individual she described as a witness.

“The other witness, so called witness to this is somebody who also had zero firsthand knowledge and presented zero evidence,” she said.

She said the individual had prior involvement in earlier intelligence assessments.

“Someone who was also a co author of the 2017 Russia hoax intelligence community assessment that President Obama had ordered be created in conjunction with John Brennan and James Clapper At the time,” Gabbard said.

Gabbard said the witness’s interpretation of events was influenced by the whistleblower’s account.

“Again, no first hand knowledge or evidence, and someone who said that even after reading the transcript, he didn't really see the issue there until the whistle blower had explained it to him,” she said.

She also criticized the actions of the intelligence community inspector general, describing them as inadequate.

“And lastly, the Inspector General himself, and this is really such a violation of public trust and the responsibility that we expect all of our inspectors generals to have in that he didn't conduct a full investigation,” Gabbard said.

She said the inspector general did not review key materials before making decisions.

“He didn't even ask to see the transcript of the phone call between President Trump and Zelensky,” she said.

Gabbard said the inspector general acknowledged to Congress that there was a lack of direct evidence.

“And he admitted to Congress that he didn't have any first, he did not have any evidence that he was relying on,” she said.

She said the matter was referred to the Department of Justice but did not result in further action.

“He had made a criminal referral to the Department of Justice based on this so called whistleblower's complaint,” Gabbard said. “Department of Justice came back and said, There's nothing here.”

Gabbard said the inspector general then presented the information to Congress.

“This inspector general then went to Congress anyway, and presented, presented to them all of this,” she said.

She concluded by describing the impeachment as a partisan effort.

“Coming down to the bottom line, of which this was a partisan political attempt, once again, to undermine the will of the American people who elected Donald Trump as president United States,” Gabbard said.

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