Top US spy says no foreign threats to November elections

This is the first time the annual US threat assessment did not mention any foreign election interference, an official says

Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard delivers opening remarks during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US, Mar 18, 2026. REUTERS

The US intelligence community has identified no foreign threat to the upcoming congressional elections, President Donald Trump's spy chief said on Wednesday.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard denied the existence of a foreign threat despite multiple years of US intelligence findings that countries, including Russia, China and Iran, have worked to sway Americans' votes.

At a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Democratic US Senator Mark Warner said this was the first time since 2017 that the annual US threat assessment did not mention any foreign election interference.

"Are you saying there is no foreign threat to our elections in the midterms this year?" he asked Gabbard.

"The intelligence community has been and continues to remain focused on any collection and intelligence that show a potential foreign threat," Gabbard replied. "So far, there has been none."

Democrat: Gabbard Uninterested In Fighting Foreign Influence

Earlier, Warner assailed the US intelligence community for not addressing foreign threats to November's midterm elections and criticised election-related actions by Gabbard.

Warner, the panel's vice chairman, said intelligence agencies did not respond to multiple requests from the committee for a briefing on legitimate foreign threats to the midterms.

"That silence... clearly demonstrates the DNI is not interested in protecting American democracy by combating foreign influence," said Warner, of Virginia, referring to Gabbard.

Instead, he said, Gabbard has inserted herself into domestic election issues, including seizing voting machines in Georgia and Puerto Rico.

Gabbard was present at an FBI raid in January on an election facility in Georgia, saying she was there at Trump's request and that her attendance was within her authority after top Democrats on the Senate and House of Representatives intelligence panels raised concerns about her involvement.

The FBI searched Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Centre, pursuing Trump's false claims that his 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread voting fraud.

"There was no foreign connection to justify the involvement of our nation's top spy. Instead, the predicate for the warrant was a slip of debunked conspiracy theories," Warner said.

"If the intelligence community is not being deployed to mobilise, getting to mobilise against foreign threats, why is it being deployed at all on a domestic issue?"

Warner said Gabbard's involvement suggested a misuse of national security powers to interfere in domestic politics and could help clear the way for what he called Trump's "unconstitutional efforts to seize control of the upcoming elections."

The US has in the past accused foreign actors of trying to exert influence over US elections, particularly through information and cyber operations.

Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election that first brought Trump to office has been widely documented by intelligence agencies and congressional inquiries.