Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is accusing the Washington Post and one of its top national security reporters of harassing her staff and going around official channels in what she described as a politically motivated operation.
“It has come to my attention that Washington Post reporter @nakashimae appears to be actively harassing [Office of the Director of National Intelligence] staff,” Gabbard posted Thursday on X.
“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,” she continued.
She 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.”
Gabbard went on to say that the reporter, Ellen Nakashima, is the same journalist who “stalked” her family in Hawaii in the past, and suggested this latest move is part of a larger political attack, The New York Post reported.
“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,” Gabbard wrote. “The Washington Post should be ashamed, and they should put an end to this immediately.”
Post executive editor Matt Murray issued a response defending Nakashima and rejecting the claims.
“For three decades, Ellen Nakashima has been one of the most careful, fair-minded, and highly regarded reporters covering national security,” he wrote in a statement on X. “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.”
He called Gabbard’s remarks “an unfounded personal attack” and said they showed “a fundamental misunderstanding about the role of journalists to report on government officials and hold power to account.”
Gabbard’s deputy chief of staff, Alexa Henning, followed up by pointing to her own post on X after the Washington Post released its statement.
“Not a denial,” she wrote.
This isn’t the first time the paper has been accused of overstepping boundaries when it comes to Gabbard.
Back in November, just days after Gabbard was nominated to her current position, her former chief of staff, Kainoa Penaroza, accused Post reporter Jon Swaine on X of “stalking” former Gabbard staffers and even showing up to his home uninvited.
Gabbard last month confirmed that recent reports from CNN and The New York Times, which cited anonymous sources suggesting last week’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites caused only limited damage, are based on selectively chosen portions of the Pentagon’s broader damage assessment.
Both outlets reported that “early U.S. intelligence assessments” indicated the strikes were less effective than initially claimed.
“The analysis of the damage to the sites and the impact of the strikes on Iran’s nuclear ambitions is ongoing, and could change as more intelligence becomes available. But the early findings are at odds with President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the strikes ‘completely and totally obliterated’ Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities,” CNN reported.