Trump suggests Tulsi Gabbard lied about why she was at Georgia election office raid

Washington DC - President Donald Trump denied knowing anything about why Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was present when the FBI raided an election facility in Georgia.

President Donald Trump denied any knowledge of why National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard was present at the FBI raid in Georgia.
President Donald Trump denied any knowledge of why National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard was present at the FBI raid in Georgia.  © Collage: AFP/Saul Loeb & AFP/Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

"I don't know," Trump said when asked by NBC News' Tom Llamas about Gabbard's presence at the FBI raid.

"A lot of the cheating comes from – it's international cheating... Do you think China tries to influence our election?"

The baffling response flew in the face of claims made by Gabbard that Trump had personally asked her to oversee the raid.

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"I'm not doing anything," Trump said of his involvement in the raid. "The FBI went in because it's been under review for years, the cheating that took place in Fulton County and in that particular precinct."

"Why would anyone be upset that they went in and they got the ballots?" he continued. "Again, they did this; that's been under review and under investigation for years."

"If China or any of these countries are involved in our elections, that would bring her into it," Trump said, referring to Gabbard. "We have to have honest elections – there should be nothing wrong with the fact that they went in and got ballots."

Gabbard has been under increasing pressure since she was spotted at the raid, where FBI agents searched an election facility and seized documents related to the 2020 election.

The FBI, Gabbard, and now Trump all insist that the documents will be reviewed for possible inconsistencies or voter fraud, but critics are concerned that the administration will use the documents to argue that Trump won in 2020.

Democratic Senator Mark Warner called Gabbard's presence at the raid "a domestic political stunt designed to legitimize conspiracy theories that undermine our democracy."

Cover photo: Collage: AFP/Saul Loeb & AFP/Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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