Intelligence official denies claim CIA ‘raided’ Gabbard’s office amid dispute over JFK, MKUltra records

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) denied late May 13 that the CIA “raided” Director Tulsi Gabbard’s office after remarks from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., sparked online claims that the agency had recently seized files related to the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy and the MKUltra Program.

“This is false — the CIA did not raid the DNI’s office,” ODNI press secretary Olivia Coleman wrote on X late May 13 in response to a now-deleted segment from FOX News that said Gabbard’s office was “just raided.”

The controversy began earlier May 13, when Luna told NewsNation host Katie Pavlich she had just been informed that the CIA took “multiple boxes” from ODNI containing files “pertaining to the JFK files as well as MKUltra.” 

Luna said the allegation was troubling because President Donald Trump ordered the full declassification of JFK-related records and the CIA said all MKUltra-related files had already been released or destroyed.

Luna’s statements quickly spread online, with FOX News host Jesse Watters reporting that the CIA “just raided Tulsi Gabbard’s office” and social media commentators amplifying similar claims.

MKUltra was a covert CIA program that operated from the early 1950s to 1973. It involved human experiments using LSD and other drugs, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, and psychological abuse in an effort to develop mind-control techniques and interrogation methods.

While no public evidence has been released confirming that CIA personnel improperly removed or withheld the documents described by Luna, the allegations quickly revived longstanding public skepticism surrounding JFK-related records and Cold War-era intelligence programs. 

Hours later, Luna said she had never described the incident as a “raid” and clarified that the alleged removal of documents did not happen that day. She said the CIA “took documents that ODNI has jurisdiction over.” In a follow-up post May 14, she reiterated that she “never claimed a ‘raid’ was made” and said her allegations were “DIRECTLY based off whistleblower testimony and ODNI.”

Pavlich later said an intelligence official told her CIA personnel removed documents connected to MKUltra and the assassination of JFK from the National Reconnaissance Office “last year in the middle of the night during the government shutdown” and had not returned them to ODNI. 

According to Pavlich, the official said that if the documents were withheld, they can’t be declassified, scanned, and released to the public. She also quoted the official as saying, “The CIA doesn't think they answer to anyone,” and “I doubt [CIA Director] Ratcliffe knew about it.”

Luna’s comments appear to be tied to testimony from CIA whistleblower James Erdman, who said during a May 13 Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing that the CIA had taken about 40 boxes of JFK and MKUltra-related files Gabbard was processing for declassification.

The hearing focused largely on allegations the intelligence community covered up the origins of COVID-19. Erdman alleged that when he worked at the ODNI, his team faced illegal surveillance while investigating the COVID lab-leak theory. According to Erdman, the intelligence community downplayed lab-leak evidence and ignored or altered conclusions supporting that theory.

The CIA, which is under the oversight of ODNI, has not publicly addressed allegations that it removed and withheld the records, but the agency did issue a statement criticizing the hearing. 

“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 committee chairman Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.

“This proceeding amounts to nothing more than dishonest political theater masquerading as a congressional hearing,” Lyons added. “As the CIA has already assessed, COVID-19 most likely originated from a lab leak, and efforts to undermine that conclusion are disingenuous.”

Luna later posted a letter to CIA Director John Ratcliffe — who previously served as DNI during Trump’s first term — requesting that the agency preserve all records related to the matter. 

In a May 14 post, Luna maintained that it is her job to follow up when Congress is offered “conflicting narratives from different agencies.”

She also argued the CIA has a documented track record of eliminating records.

“For people to act like the CIA doesn’t have a history of destroying documents is BIZARO-WORLD.”