Trump claims DNI Tulsi Gabbard was at Georgia election hub search because AG Pam Bondi wanted her there

By Fox News · Fox News

President Donald Trump addressed a recent controversy over Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard's presence at an FBI search of the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center in Georgia. "She took a lot of heat two days ag,o because she went in at Pam's insistence. She went in, and she looked at votes ... because Pam wanted her to do it," Trump said, referring to Attorney General Pam Bondi , while speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday. The president went on to slam critics who said that Gabbard's presence during the FBI search was inappropriate and outside of her job description. GEORGIA'S FULTON COUNTY FILES MOTION SEEKING RETURN OF 2020 ELECTION MATERIALS SEIZED BY FBI Trump had previously spoken about the controversy at the premiere of first lady Melania Trump's movie "MELANIA" at The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. He defended Gabbard and said she was "working very hard on trying to keep the election safe." In a letter to Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn, which was obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital, Gabbard said that Trump had "specifically directed" her to be present at the raid. The letter was written in response to one that Warner and Himes sent in late January, in which they requested Gabbard brief them on why she was present at the FBI search. KASH PATEL CONFIRMS FBI HAD 'PROBABLE CAUSE' FOR FULTON COUNTY ELECTION HUB RAID In the letter, Gabbard said that her "presence was requested by the President and executed under my broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security, including counterintelligence (CI), foreign and other malign influence, and cybersecurity." "The FBI’s Intelligence/Counterintelligence divisions are one of the 18 elements that I oversee," she said. Additionally, Gabbard said in the letter that…