Reports indicate that the NSA intercepted a phone call last spring between a person linked to foreign intelligence and someone close to Donald Trump. According to an attorney for a whistleblower, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard brought the intelligence report to the president's chief of staff and later ordered the NSA not to distribute it.

A whistleblower filed a formal complaint alleging that Gabbard blocked the normal sharing of this intelligence, but the acting inspector general dismissed the claim. While some Republican lawmakers have supported Gabbard’s actions, Democrats have raised concerns about the long delay before the complaint reached Congress. The specific details of the complaint remain mostly unknown, and lawmakers have reached out to the NSA directly to request the original intelligence records.