Warner draws Nixon parallels as he blasts Gabbard's role in Georgia voting machine raid, warns of threat to Virginia elections
In weekly media availability, senator links Gabbard's Georgia raid, ICE surveillance and push to nationalize elections as threats to Virginia
Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., delivered a sweeping indictment of the Trump administration Thursday, comparing the president’s handling of federal law enforcement and election oversight to the Nixon-era abuses that led to Watergate reforms — and warning that Virginia’s own elections could be at risk.
In his weekly remote media availability from the U.S. Capitol, the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee touched on a range of issues — from the FBI’s raid on voting machines in Fulton County, Georgia, to ICE operations he called rogue, to the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank — but kept returning to a central theme: an administration that believes “laws do not apply to them.”
Warner reserved his sharpest criticism for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, whose presence at the service of a search warrant for voting machines in Georgia has roiled Washington this week. Warner said Gabbard has “no domestic criminal responsibilities” and no legitimate role in such an operation — her job, he said, is to monitor foreign influence on U.S. elections.
“If there was any claim of foreign influence, she obviously has broken her responsibility there because she’s not notified her oversight committees,” Warner said.
The senator said the episode is “right out of the Nixon era,” noting that post-Watergate reforms — including the creation of the intelligence committees themselves — were designed to prevent exactly this kind of politicized deployment of intelligence resources.
Warner said the president’s story about Gabbard’s involvement has shifted repeatedly. “He said he didn’t know why Gabbard was there last night. This morning, he said she was there because Pam Bondi,” Warner said, calling it a “classic Keystone Cop screw up” on a matter of election security.
He also disclosed that Gabbard’s office had been looking at voting machines in Puerto Rico, with no foreign connection — further evidence, in his view, of a DNI “run amok.”
Warner addressed a classified whistleblower complaint against Gabbard that has been reported on in recent days. While declining to discuss its substance — “I’m a little old-fashioned. I actually think classified information should be kept classified,” he said — the senator said the complaint was filed in May 2025 and should have been forwarded to Congress within 21 days.
Instead, Warner said, lawmakers did not learn the complaint existed until November, and it was not shared until February — and then only in a form so “heavily redacted, it’s hard to sort out.”
Warner said the delay crosses party lines as a concern. “The Gang of Eight, the speaker of the House, the majority leader of the Senate — we’ve all asked, we got to see this,” he said. He noted that Gabbard’s own lawyer has said he informed her of the legal requirements around the complaint in June, while Gabbard has testified she was unaware of them — a contradiction Warner said “stinks to high heaven.”
When asked whether the contents of the complaint should concern the American public, Warner demurred on specifics but condemned the administration’s claims that releasing the information would cause “grave damage to national security.”
“That was why the Gang of Eight was set up,” he said. “This is an outrageous, false claim from the administration. They don’t get to pick and choose what they share with Congress.”
Warner also addressed ongoing ICE operations that have drawn national scrutiny following the killings of two Americans in Minneapolis, calling the Department of Homeland Security a “rogue department” and warning that similar operations could come to Virginia.
“What’s happening right now in Minnesota, in Minneapolis, could happen in Richmond, could happen in Norfolk, could happen in Roanoke, could happen in Fairfax County,” Warner said.
He called for a suite of reforms: requiring ICE agents to identify themselves, mandating body cameras, ending “roving patrols” that knock on doors without warrants and subjecting ICE to the same standards as state and local police and the FBI.
Warner expressed particular alarm over reports that ICE is deploying new surveillance technology to identify and track American citizens — monitoring their social media activity, home addresses and protest participation. He cited the case of a Minnesota resident whose Global Entry application was denied because they had protested administration policies.
“Do you really trust Kristi Noem to have all your personal information and then to extract retribution against you because she doesn’t like what you’re doing if you’re using your First Amendment rights?” Warner asked.
He announced that the intelligence community inspector general had agreed to investigate the use of these tools, responding to a letter from Warner and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.
Asked about Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s executive order terminating cooperation between Virginia state law enforcement and ICE, Warner said he supported the move.
“In light of ICE’s behavior in Minnesota, in Minneapolis, in light of the fact that we’ve got no reforms in place, I think the governor took the right action,” Warner said. He said conversations with law enforcement officials have reinforced his view, noting that local police cannot do their jobs if their communities believe they are “working with a rogue agency.”
Warner was pointed when asked why legal voters would be intimidated by ICE at polling places — a scenario he has warned about as Virginia heads into a year with primaries, midterms and a potential statewide redistricting referendum.
“You send ICE to polling stations and you’re intimidating American citizens who vote,” he said, describing a scenario in which agents could approach voters and reference their protest history or personal records. “If you don’t think that would scare American citizens, registered voters, or at least put a pause in their voting, I don’t think you’re being realistic.”
He said thousands of Latino Virginians who are U.S. citizens are already “afraid to go to school, afraid to go to work” and would certainly be afraid to vote if confronted by agents engaged in racial profiling.
Warner also discussed bipartisan legislation he introduced with Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank, which has supported roughly $800 million in exports from about 80 Virginia companies in recent years. Warner said the bank is more critical than ever as tariffs squeeze small businesses that rely on export revenue.
“China and other nations are dramatically increasing their export support because more and more countries are stopping bringing in American exports because of the tariff wars,” Warner said.
The senator weighed in on a report from Senate Homeland Security Committee Democrats showing that the National Guard deployment in Washington has cost taxpayers more than $330 million with no measurable results. He said D.C. should be reimbursed — just as he hopes Minneapolis will bill ICE — and tied the cost to broader Republican efforts he said are financially punishing the District, including a separate $650 million dispute over federal tax conformity.
“Not only is it not fair to the District, but that also puts a hole in our whole regional economy,” Warner said. “It’s not good for D.C. It’s also not good for Virginia and Maryland.”
The session ended on an uncharacteristically gentle note when a reporter asked about a group of Buddhist monks walking from Texas through Virginia en route to Washington. Warner said he would like to meet them when they arrive and noted their large turnout in Richmond, where he said the governor greeted them.
“The idea that we all ought to take a deep breath and maybe be a little more centered as a human being, I think that’s something we all ought to be able to agree on,” Warner said. “Whether you’re a Trump supporter or a Trump decliner, whether you’re a Democrat, a Republican, an independent, a libertarian, even a vegetarian.”