Tulsi Gabbard Threatens To Sue CNN For ‘Smear Job’ Accusing Her Of Voter Fraud

Lawyers representing Tulsi Gabbard are threatening to sue CNN for defamation if the network publishes a story accusing the Director of National Intelligence of voter fraud, according to a legal cease and desist letter obtained by The Daily Wire.

In the letter, dated April 4, lawyers representing Gabbard state that they learned a day earlier that CNN “plans to publish a story that falsely asserts or implies that Tulsi Gabbard committed voter fraud and suggests that she had abandoned her longstanding Hawaii residency.”

The story, according to the letter, is based on Gabbard’s 2024 purchase of a Texas house — CNN apparently planned to write that Gabbard improperly voted in Hawaii in 2024 when she should have voted in Texas, because she declared a “homestead exemption” at that property. The lawyers, the letter shows, inform CNN that Texas law does not indefinitely bind homestead to your residence, and that Gabbard “was, is, and intends to remain a Hawaii resident.”

Gabbard, a former Democrat who left the party, was raised in Hawaii, served in its state legislature, and represented the state Congress for nearly a decade. Olivia Coleman, press secretary for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, told The Daily Wire that “illegitimate claims of voter fraud are a new low, even for CNN.”

READ THE FULL LETTER TO CNN HERE

“DNI Gabbard voted in Hawaii during the 2024 election because she is and has been a tax paying Hawaii resident,” Coleman said. “Her current status is no different than when she was a Member of Congress, where she maintained a mainland residence and a Hawaii residence as a tax-paying voter.”

The legal letter informs CNN that Gabbard “took the advice of local officials to register a homestead exemption to protect her and her family’s privacy.”

“Declaring her ‘homestead’ in Texas, per law, ensured her address would remain confidential in response to ongoing, high-level, credible threats against her and her family,” Coleman exmplained. “Any claim to the contrary is simply dishonest and is yet another smear job from discredited CNN that could put the Director and her loved ones further at risk.”

It is unclear whether CNN plans to publish its report, or if the network has additional evidence not referenced in the legal letter. CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It is also unclear what motive Gabbard would have for fraudulently maintaining residence in Hawaii while living primarily in Texas. Politically, Texas is a much more electorally competitive state than Hawaii. And financially, Hawaii has one of the highest state income taxes in the country, while Texas is one of eight states with no income tax at all.

In their letter, Gabbard’s lawyers cite a court case which states that while a designated homestead is “relevant to consideration of residence,” it is “not dispositive.” Gabbard presently spends most of her time in Virginia, where the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is headquartered.

In support of the claims of defamation, Gabbard’s lawyers state in the letter that the “demonstrably false” statements “have the potential to cause significant harm to her personal and professional reputation.”

“The allegations meet the legal standard for defamation per se, as they falsely accuse Director Gabbard of criminal conduct, which is inherently damaging to her reputation,” the letter says.

In 2022, CNN published an article titled, “Election fraud isn’t really a thing, part infinity.”