Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s office is pushing back on claims that the CIA “raided” ODNI headquarters and removed boxes of sensitive files related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the controversial MKUltra program, after comments from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) sparked a wave of online speculation and cable news coverage of the dust-up this week.
“This is false — the CIA did not raid the DNI’s office,” ODNI press secretary Olivia Coleman wrote late Wednesday evening on X, in response to a now-deleted segment from Fox News host Jesse Watters amplifying the allegation.
This is false – the CIA did not raid the DNI’s office. https://t.co/vZOEqzeK4M
— Olivia Coleman (@DNIspox) May 14, 2026
The controversy began after Luna told NewsNation that she had been informed the CIA had “taken documents out of ODNI, multiple boxes pertaining to the JFK files as well as MKUltra.” She characterized the alleged removal as “troubling,” particularly because President Donald Trump has ordered broad declassification reviews involving assassination records and particularly sensitive intelligence files.
The comments quickly spread online and were later picked up by Fox News on Wednesday afternoon, when Watters described the allegations in dramatic terms during an interview with Luna, saying “THE CIA JUST RAIDED TULSI GABBARD’S OFFICE… HOLY SMOKES!”
But hours later, Luna walked back the framing. Just after 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, she clarified on X that the incident was not a “raid” and did not happen earlier in the day, adding the CIA allegedly “took documents that ODNI has jurisdiction over.”
Clarification: Took documents that ODNI has jurisdiction over. Also, this did not happen today and was not a “raid” however it did take place and we are just being made aware of it based on reporting etc.
— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) May 14, 2026
“Also, this did not happen today and was not a ‘raid’ however it did take place and we are just being made aware of it based on reporting etc.,” Luna wrote.
Luna also took to X on Thursday morning to defend herself further amid the fallout from the claims.
“I am noticing a few large accounts stating falsely that I claimed there was a raid on Tulsi Gabbard’s office by the CIA,” she said. “This is completely false. There is no clip or statement that exists. Why is there an orchestrated push for this narrative? Not one account can post a clip of me saying that cause it never happened.”
The CIA has not publicly commented on the underlying allegation involving the documents themselves. However, the agency did respond broadly to a Senate hearing connected to the matter, criticizing lawmakers for subpoenaing a CIA officer to testify about the intelligence community’s initial investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The witness testifying today is not appearing as a whistleblower in pursuit of the truth, but instead in response to the subpoena issued by Chairman Paul,” CIA spokeswoman Liz Lyons wrote on X, referring to Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).
The Committee acted in bad faith by subpoenaing an Agency officer for testimony today without notifying CIA, despite having already obtained closed-door testimony from the individual previously. The witness testifying today is not appearing as a whistleblower in pursuit of the…
— Liz Lyons (@CIASpox) May 13, 2026
Luna’s allegations appear to stem from testimony delivered Wednesday before the Senate Homeland Security Committee by CIA whistleblower James Erdman III. During the hearing, Erdman alleged that roughly 40 boxes tied to JFK assassination materials and MKUltra-related records had been taken from ODNI while undergoing declassification review.
Luna later posted a letter addressed to CIA Director John Ratcliffe requesting preservation of all records related to the matter. Ratcliffe previously served as director of national intelligence during Trump’s first administration, before later becoming CIA director during Trump’s second.
The dispute comes amid renewed public attention on long-classified government files tied to the assassination of Kennedy and Cold War intelligence operations.
Earlier this year, Trump ordered the release of additional assassination-related documents involving Kennedy, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. The National Archives has since released tens of thousands of pages of records as part of a declassification process.
MKUltra remains one of the CIA’s most infamous historical programs. Beginning in the 1950s, the agency conducted covert experiments involving LSD, hypnosis, and sensory deprivation, in an effort to discover and explore the possibilities for human mind-control, often on unwitting subjects in the United States and Canada.
Many records tied to the program were destroyed in 1973 at the orders of then-CIA leadership, though additional files have surfaced through declassification efforts.
Prior to the information breakdown on Wednesday, Luna informed her followers one day before that a previously planned hearing to discuss the MKUltra program would no longer happen on Wednesday, because “our other three witnesses, rightfully so, were hesitant to testify,” Luna said, citing vague but “legitimate concerns.”
Luna, on Thursday, maintained that it is her job to follow up when Congress is offered “conflicting narratives from different agencies,” noting that the history of the CIA destroying certain records looms large over her concerns on this issue.
“For people to act like the CIA doesn’t have a history of destroying documents is BIZARO-WORLD,” she added in her Thursday morning post.
While Luna has continued pressing for answers about the handling of the records, ODNI has merely stated that Gabbard’s office was not forcibly raided, and Luna has claimed that the CIA removed records within ODNI’s jurisdiction.
LUNA THREATENS SUBPOENA AFTER WHISTLEBLOWER SAYS CIA SEIZED JFK AND MKULTRA FILES
While it is unclear what will happen next, Luna said Wednesday she would be filing a subpoena over the allegedly taken files by the end of the day on Thursday: “The CIA has 24 hours to return the documents to Tulsi Gabbard’s office or else I will make a motion to issue a subpoena.”
The Washington Examiner contacted spokespeople for Gabbard, Luna, and Ratcliffe.