Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is making waves again with a new push to hold people accountable for the events that led to President Donald Trump’s first impeachment.
This week, her office sent a criminal referral to the Department of Justice focusing on Eric Ciaramella, the former CIA analyst known as the anonymous whistleblower whose complaint helped spark the 2019 impeachment over Trump’s phone call with Ukraine’s president.
Gabbard’s referral highlights how Ciaramella had contact with Rep. Adam Schiff’s office before filing his official whistleblower complaint, but didn’t disclose that contact on the required form. That form clearly asks if the person reached out to Congress or other agencies and warns that lying can lead to perjury charges under federal law (18 USC 1001).
At first glance, it looks like Gabbard is going after the people behind the “Russia Collusion hoax” and the Ukraine-related drama that led to President Trump’s first impeachment hearing.
But there’s a big problem: one of Gabbard’s own recent hires appears to be directly tied to Russia-gate bad actors.
Dan Caldwell, an advisor Gabbard recently hired into her office using a hiring process that reportedly skipped normal White House vetting channels, helped bring Gavin Wilde, who has since deleted his X account, on as a non-resident fellow at the Koch-aligned and funded think tank Defense Priorities.
Who is Gavin Wilde? Gavin Wilde and Eric Ciaramella are colleagues at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where Wilde serves as a (nonresident) senior fellow in the Technology and International Affairs Program focusing on Russia, information warfare, cyber operations, and malign influence, while Ciaramella is a senior fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program specializing in Ukraine and Russia policy.
They have collaborated on joint projects, such as contributing chapters to the 2023 Center for a New American Security (CNAS) report “Identifying Russian Vulnerabilities and How to Leverage Them,” with Wilde addressing Russia’s technology and cyber industries and Ciaramella examining Ukraine as a vulnerability for the Kremlin.
Both previously served in senior U.S. government roles involving Russia and Eurasia: Wilde as Director for Russia, Baltic, and Caucasus Affairs on the National Security Council, where he shaped policy on foreign malign influence, election security, and cyber issues, and Ciaramella in multiple positions including acting senior director for Europe and Russia on the NSC staff, deputy national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council, and as a senior political analyst at the CIA.
As it pertains to “Russia Gate, Ciaramella has a documented connection as a career intelligence official whose emails were cited in a footnote of the Mueller Report.
He has also been widely identified in media and congressional records as the anonymous whistleblower whose 2019 complaint about a Trump-Ukraine phone call triggered the first impeachment inquiry.
Wilde’s NSC tenure (2018–2019) came after the peak of the Mueller investigation. Ciaramella and Wilde’s overlap in Russia policy and current work at Carnegie shows they have a shared professional network and associations in the national security community
Wilde was also one of the authors of the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) on Russia, a report that many Trump allies say was heavily politicized and helped fuel the years-long Russiagate investigation.was one of the authors of the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) on Russia, a report that many Trump allies say was heavily politicized and helped fuel the years-long Russiagate investigation.
This means that while Gabbard is now targeting Ciaramella and the Ukraine whistleblower saga, one of her trusted advisors helped give a platform to someone tied to the original Russia narrative she claims to oppose.
The contradiction doesn’t stop there. Caldwell has also publicly supported Daniel Davis, the man Gabbard once wanted as her deputy at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Davis, a retired Army officer and commentator, has made many public statements criticizing Trump, including calling him a “monarch” and accusing him of war crimes in certain foreign policy decisions, including the Iran war.
Making this even more alarming is the fact that Caldwell himself was previously pushed out of a Pentagon role under Secretary of War Pete Hegseth amid a leak investigation. These poor staffing choices raise a simple question most Americans can understand: If you’re serious about cleaning up politicized intelligence work and going after the people behind Russiagate and the first Trump impeachment, why hire or promote people connected to that same world?
The timing of Gabbard’s latest move also fits a pattern many people, including myself, have noticed and reported on. Her high-profile document releases and referrals often come at moments when talk inside the White House about her performance or disloyalty to President Trump grows louder.
The above graphic accompanied Gabbard’s original Russia Hoax disclosures, which she released in the aftermath of her Hiroshima nuclear video that upset President Trump.
This graphic was released by ODNI when Gabbard showed up for a photo op in Fulton County, Georgia, immediately after the public noticed Gabbard was not involved in the US Military operation to capture former Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro.
And this week, Gabbard released the above graphic to accompany her Trump Impeachment disclosures, which were timed to conveniently generate positive press after she was nearly fired for failing to defend the President on Capitol Hill and for supporting Joe Kent.
Her strongest supporters, especially those close to Gen. Michael Flynn and Roger Stone, are always quick to praise Gabbard’s moves as bold and necessary. But many West Wing insiders are far more skeptical. Some privately call her “Do Not Invite Gabbard,” for “DNI”, suggesting she puts her own interests and political ambitions first.
In the end, this story boils down to a clear contradiction. Tulsi Gabbard is positioning herself as a fighter against the deep state and past hoaxes. Yet her decision to bring Dan Caldwell on board, and his role in hiring someone tied to the 2017 Russia Collusion Hoax, makes her latest actions against Eric Ciaramella look more like a political stunt than a genuine push for accountability.
It’s a classic Washington story: tough talk on the outside, but questionable and hypocritical choices on the inside. The White House now has to decide if this is real accountability or just another round of political games by Gabbard, a lifelong Democrat.
Americans watching from home deserve straight answers, not more smoke and mirrors from Cabinet members who use their position as a stepping stone to reach their higher political ambitions.
