New York: The office of Tulsi Gabbard has denied reports claiming that the CIA raided her office and seized sensitive files related to the assassination of former US President John F. Kennedy and the controversial MKUltra programme.
The controversy erupted after Fox News cited allegations that CIA agents removed several boxes of documents from Gabbard’s office while the files were allegedly being prepared for declassification.
The allegations were reportedly linked to claims m
ade by CIA whistleblower James Erdman III during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing. Erdman alleged that the intelligence agency seized files connected to the JFK assassination and the CIA’s Cold War-era MKUltra mind-control programme before they could be released publicly.
However, Olivia Coleman, press secretary for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), dismissed the claims outright. “This is false, the CIA did not raid the DNI’s office,” she said in a post on X, according to multiple reports.
The latest claims come amid continuing scrutiny surrounding whistleblower complaints and classified intelligence handling involving Gabbard’s office in recent months. Earlier reports had alleged that complaints concerning classified intelligence were delayed or withheld from Congress, allegations that Gabbard and her office have repeatedly denied