LISTEN: On Wednesday, the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified in front of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about her role in the January raid on a Fulton County elections warehouse. GPB's Chase McGee reports.

Jon Ossoff and Tulsi Gabbard in a side-by-side view.

Senator Jon Ossoff questions Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard about her role in January's search of a Fulton County elections warehouse.

Credit: CSPAN

On Wednesday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified in front of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about her role in the January raid on a Fulton County elections warehouse.

Gabbard joined intelligence officials from a variety of agencies for the annual worldwide threats hearing.

She told Georgia U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff that she was directed by President Donald Trump on the day of the raid to oversee the operation.

David Becker is a former Department of Justice civil rights attorney who now runs a nonprofit focusing on elections. 

He said it’s unusual for the president to be involved in or even know about a DOJ search warrant in advance.

"And the fact that he clearly knew about it before its execution raises real questions for the president about how he knew about it, who he heard it from, and why he thought it was appropriate to start sharing that this search warrant was going to be executed prior to its execution," Becker said.

Becker added that to his knowledge, there's no specific statute that would keep the president from knowing about this search warrant, but it violates decades of norms going back as far as Watergate.

A judge has ordered the federal government and Fulton County into mediation over the materials seized in the raid.

Georgia Public Broadcasting reached out to the White House for comment. In response, a White House official deferred to Gabbard’s comments.

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