by Andrew Walden
Backstory narratives detail Tulsi Gabbard’s ouster from ODNI.
Was bumbling Team Gabbard at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) so stupid that they parlayed an obviously bogus tip, from a J6er bent on revenge, into an FBI raid on the home of a former Capitol Police officer the J6er falsely accused of planting pipe bombs at the DNC and RNC HQs in Washington, DC.
Did the CIA happily escalate this obvious Gabbard blunder to take her down before she could expose the CIA’s role in peddling the ‘bat origin’ story to cover up the Wuhan Level 4 Lab leak which caused COVID?
Head swimming? Good. Keep reading.
James E. Erdman III, a Senior Operations Officer at the Central Intelligence Agency told the Senate Homeland Security Committee May 13, 2026:
“ODNI and CIA’s role in the COVID origin cover-up demands accountability but is only a small part of the problem caused by Dr. Anthony Fauci’s role in creating a system that incentivized dangerous Gain-of-Function research in the United States and abroad. The following is some of what the Director’s Initiatives Group (DIG) uncovered in its work, that has yet to be shared with the American public.”
His must-read COVID testimony is HERE.
But at the end of his written testimony, he explains how the CIA’s opportunistic escalation of Gabbard’s stupidly-forwarded tip ruined the COVID investigation.
Here are the details:
Gabbard Group Shut Down for Pushing J6er’s Low-Budget Conspiracy Theories, Leading to Libel Suit
RawStory May 22, 2026: … A task force launched by U.S. intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard to "end weaponization" has fallen apart after "drama" triggered by a memo it circulated that spread false claims — made by a January 6 rioter — against a CIA employee and a former Capitol Police officer ….
Erdman’s written testimony (p14-15) to the Senate Homeland Security Committee shed new light on how the involvement of Gabbard’s task force in circulating a smear against a federal employee wreaked havoc at the CIA and Department of Justice.
Steve Baker, who was convicted of misdemeanor parading in the Capitol on Jan. 6 — and subsequently pardoned by Trump — contacted ODNI last October with information for a story for Blaze Media in which he falsely accused Shauni Kerkhoff, a former Capitol police officer who is now at the CIA, of planting pipe bombs at the headquarters of Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee on the eve of the attack.
On Nov. 4, 2025, Baker and a second Blaze Media reporter, Joseph Hanneman, published an article focused on Kerkhoff’s actions during the Jan. 6 riot. The following day, a subsequent article at Blaze Media described Baker as stating during a radio interview that the pipe bomber would “be named as soon as the relevant agencies have ‘battened down the hatches.’”…
Erdman testified that prior to publication of the story, Director’s Initiatives Group members consulted with senior ODNI leadership about how to pass along Baker’s information to agencies that could appropriately investigate.
“I remember several of my colleagues that were involved recalling that the DIG was directed to draft a memo with Baker’s information that could be circulated to other agencies,” Erdman wrote. Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Aaron Lukas wound up sharing the memo with his counterpart at the CIA, Michael Ellis, Erdman wrote….
Two days later, Kerkhoff was called into work at the CIA, interviewed by two FBI agents about her activities on the night the pipe bombs were set, and placed on administrative leave, according to a lawsuit she filed against Baker and Blaze Media.
Later, after agreeing to meet the FBI at her house to allow a search, Kerkhoff’s lawsuit alleges a caravan of FBI agents “exited their vehicles with their guns drawn and in full tactical gear,” as a helicopter hovered overhead and a bomb-disposal truck parked nearby….
The story quickly unraveled, with Blaze Media ultimately retracting it and firing Baker.….
“Blaze News initially reported, as confirmed by official intelligence sources, that based on a ‘forensic gait analysis’ Ms. Kerkhoff was a 94% match to the suspected pipe bomber. That report was retracted when the FBI arrested and DOJ charged another individual, who had reportedly confessed to the crime,” Grygiel said in the statement…
(SUMMARY: Team Gabbard was too stupid to recognize that ‘gait analysis’ is at best ‘supportive’ rather than ‘definitive’ evidence. So they escalated this junk ‘lead’ providing CIA the opportunity to exploit Gabbard’s stupidity leading to the shut down of her COVID investigation.)
Read … Friendly fire hits Trump officials as 'drama' forces shutdown of Tulsi Gabbard group - Raw Story
PDF: Lawsuit
MNS April 21, 2026: ‘They simply made it up’: Blaze Media faces defamation suit over Jan. 5 pipe bomb claim “As for the alleged falsity of her involvement, her lawyers blasted what they called the “bogus” gait analysis the defendants used to supposedly identify her. “The November 8 Article’s opening line revealed the sole evidence for Defendants’ false and defamatory accusations against Ms. Kerkhoff,” her complaint said, arguing that their “entire false theory rose and fell on a ‘gait analysis.’” “They simply made it up,” it said.
MORE FUN n GAMES
MEANWHILE: Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna posted a claim that the CIA raided Tulsi Gabbard's office, taking various files related to the assassination of John F. Kennedy and Project MKUltra.
PDF: CIA vs Gabbard over COVID--testimony (p15) “After the DIG shutdown, in addition to transfer of the COVID work over to the NIC, the CIA took back 40 boxes of documents being processed for declassification. They were JFK assassination files, and they have not yet been released. They also took back MKULTRA files the DNI was going to process for possible declassification.”
(Oh well. Too bad it was up to an airhead like Tulsi Gabbard to get these released.)
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