Misinformation Watch: The CIA Raids Tulsi Gabbard's Office for JFK, MK Ultra Files

Several major sources spread a claim that the CIA raided the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's office (ODNI) on Wednesday, though the office has since denied the claim.

Claim Origins: On Wednesday, CIA whistleblower James Erdman told a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing that the CIA took about 40 boxes of files from Gabbard's office related to JFK and MKUltra. The claim then took off further when Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) told NewsNation (Center bias) in a TV interview, "We were actually just notified that the CIA went in and took documents out of ODNI. Multiple boxes pertaining to the JFK files, as well as MK Ultra." Luna, who chairs the House Oversight Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets, said she would subpoena the CIA if it didn't return the files. She later clarified that the raid did not happen on Wednesday, but that the committee was just made aware of it.

Claim Spread: The claim was most notably spread by Fox News (Right) host Jesse Watters (Right), who cited the whistleblower and Luna's confirmation to NewsNation. Luna posted on X about the claim as well, but has since deleted it.

ODNI Denial: ODNI spokeswoman Olivia Coleman shared Watters' coverage on X and wrote, "This is false - the CIA did not raid the DNI's office."

How The Media Covered It: As of Thursday morning, many mainstream outlets picked up the report, though outlets treated it with varying degrees of caution and framings. NewsNation published an article summarizing its TV interview. Mediaite (Lean Left) and Daily Caller (Right) ran similar coverage, summarizing NewsNation's reporting. Daily Express (Lean Right) highlighted social media commenters who accused Watters of acting "foolish" and "misrepresenting the facts." Breitbart (Right) framed its headline through Luna's claims and attributed them to an external report, but prominently included ODNI's denial. Just The News (Lean Right) and Newsweek (Center) highlighted ODNI's denial in headlines.

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