The usual suspects in the intelligence bureaucracy never learn. While President Trump ordered the full declassification of the JFK assassination files and the CIA’s own dirty laundry from MKUltra, a whistleblower just dropped a bombshell in front of Congress: the agency swooped in and yanked the documents right out from under the Director of National Intelligence’s nose. Or at least that’s how the story broke on May 13. The left and the media are already spinning it as nothingburger conspiracy talk, but the facts paint a different picture—one where the CIA is playing games with records the American people have every right to see. This isn’t some rogue operation from the 1970s. It’s happening right now in 2026, under a president who promised transparency and a DNI who’s actually trying to deliver it.
The Whistleblower Bombshell That Started the Fire
CIA officer James Erdman III testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on May 13. He claimed the agency seized roughly forty boxes of sensitive files tied to the JFK assassination and the notorious MKUltra mind-control program. These weren’t random papers sitting in some dusty warehouse. They were in the possession of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence—Tulsi Gabbard’s shop—and were actively being processed for declassification under President Trump’s January 2025 executive order. The order explicitly directed full release of JFK, RFK, MLK, and related Cold War-era records, with no more endless delays or “national security” excuses.
Fox News ran with the story hard, describing CIA agents hauling boxes out of Gabbard’s office in what looked like a straight-up raid. Social media lit up. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., went nuclear on X, giving the CIA twenty-four hours to return the files or face a subpoena. She called it an “internal coup” happening while the president was out of the country, and she’s not wrong about the optics. The files were supposed to be scanned and released to the public. Instead, they vanished from ODNI custody right when the declassification process was gaining steam.
The Official Denial and the Clarification That Changes Everything
Here’s where it gets messy—and where the real story emerges. Gabbard’s office pushed back immediately and forcefully. Press Secretary Olivia Coleman posted on X: “This is false—the CIA did not raid the DNI’s office.” Multiple outlets, including WION and The Times of India, carried the denial. No raid on Gabbard’s physical office happened that day.
But the whistleblower’s core claim didn’t evaporate. Intelligence officials later clarified the timeline to reporters like Katie Pavlich: the CIA didn’t storm Gabbard’s office last week. They grabbed the documents last year from a National Reconnaissance Office facility in the middle of a government shutdown and have been sitting on them ever since. The files were never returned to ODNI control, which means they couldn’t be declassified and scanned for public release. In other words, the agency is withholding records that belong under DNI authority, directly obstructing a presidential directive.
UPDATE on this and more on @KatiePavlichNN at 10 pm et on NewsNation. I just spoke to an Intelligence official who told me the following:
-The documents were not taken today and it was not a raid on DNI Gabbard’s office
-People from the CIA took documents (related to the JFK… https://t.co/PF4jcBx6fc pic.twitter.com/wEIouQosIm
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) May 14, 2026
That’s not semantics. It’s obstruction. The DNI is the head of the entire intelligence community. The CIA reports to the DNI, not the other way around. Yet here we are with the CIA acting like it still answers to no one, treating declassification orders like optional suggestions.
Does the CIA Have Jurisdiction Over the DNI? Hell No
Let’s cut through the fog on this one. The Director of National Intelligence is the boss of the entire U.S. intelligence community—eighteen agencies, including the CIA. That structure was created after 9/11 precisely because the old system let agencies like the CIA operate as independent fiefdoms. The 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act made it crystal clear: the DNI oversees coordination, budgets, and declassification across the community. The CIA Director reports to the DNI. The CIA has zero legal jurisdiction to seize or withhold records from the DNI’s office.
Trump’s executive order gave Gabbard explicit authority to push these files out the door. If the CIA is holding them hostage, it’s not just bureaucratic turf war—it’s defiance of the elected president and the American people who have waited decades for the full story on JFK and the agency’s own admitted mind-control experiments. MKUltra was real, declassified in pieces decades ago, and involved LSD dosing on unwitting Americans. The JFK files have been drip-fed for years with heavy redactions. The public has a right to see the rest.
The Truth Behind the Alleged Seizure
The specific claim of a dramatic raid on Gabbard’s office this month is false—her own team and multiple clarifications confirm no agents hauled boxes out last week. But the broader accusation is very much alive and credible. The CIA did seize and is still withholding the JFK and MKUltra records that were under ODNI review for declassification. A whistleblower with firsthand knowledge said so under oath. Luna is ready to subpoena. And the agency’s history of slow-walking, redacting, and “losing” documents on these exact topics makes the obstruction pattern impossible to ignore.
This isn’t ancient history. It’s happening now, under an administration that ran on draining the swamp. The CIA isn’t some untouchable priesthood. It works for the American people through the president and the DNI he appoints. If they’re blocking transparency on the biggest unsolved mysteries in modern American history, it’s not protecting sources and methods—it’s protecting themselves.
The deep state doesn’t get to decide what the public can know. Gabbard’s office is pushing back. Congress is circling with subpoenas. And the American people who elected Trump to end the games deserve every last page. The files aren’t the CIA’s private property. They belong to the country. Time to hand them over—or explain in open court why not.