Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard accused the Washington Post and one of its reporters of “actively harassing” her staff in an X post on Thursday.
“It has come to my attention that Washington Post reporter @nakashimae appears to be actively harassing [Office of the Director of National Intelligence] staff. Instead of reaching out to my press office, she is calling high-level Intelligence Officers from a burner phone, refusing to identify herself, lying about the fact that she works for the Washington Post, and then demanding they share sensitive information,” Gabbard wrote of reporter Ellen Nakashima.
The post continued, “Apparently, publishing leaked classified material wasn’t enough for the Washington Post, so now they’ve decided to go after the Intelligence professionals charged to protect it. This is a clear political op by the same outlet and the same reporter who harassed and stalked my family in Hawaii.
“This kind of deranged behavior reflects a media establishment so desperate to sabotage @POTUS’s successful agenda that they’ve abandoned even a facade of journalistic integrity and ethics. The Washington Post should be ashamed, and they should put an end to this immediately,” Gabbard added.
Not surprisingly, The Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray later responded to Gabbard’s post and stood by Nakashima in a statement on X.
“For three decades, Ellen Nakashima has been one of the most careful, fair-minded, and highly regarded reporters covering national security. Reaching out to potential sources rather than relying solely on official government press statements regarding matters of public interest is neither nefarious nor is it harassment. It is basic journalism,” Murray said.
He called Gabbard’s post an “unfounded personal attack” that revealed a “fundamental misunderstanding about the role of journalists to report on government officials and hold power to account.”
In a comment to Fox News Digital, Gabbard’s deputy chief of staff Alexa Henning pointed to an X post she made after the Washington Post released its statement. “Not a denial,” she wrote.