Tulsi Gabbard, nominated to be Director of National Intelligence, testifies at a Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing on January 30.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has launched a criminal investigation to determine whether Democratic members of the Senate Intelligence Committee or their staff leaked classified intelligence materials to The New York Times to damage Tulsi Gabbard during her confirmation process as Director of National Intelligence, according to Just the News.

The investigation began after the National Security Agency (NSA) filed a criminal referral regarding classified foreign eavesdropping information revealed in The New York Times during Gabbard’s controversial nomination process last year, according to the report.

According to sources, FBI Director Kash Patel acted swiftly after learning of the pending referral and initiated a criminal investigation into whether Democratic members of the Senate Intelligence Committee or their employees improperly leaked classified materials, Just the News reported.

The leaked information reportedly pertains to Gabbard’s visit to Syria in 2017.

The report stated that the eavesdropping contents included two Hezbollah terrorists discussing Representative Gabbard's 2017 visit to Syria, claiming that Gabbard had met with her "elder brother."

The classified materials were in the hands of Democratic members of the Senate Intelligence Committee and their staff before they suddenly appeared in a smear piece by The New York Times.

Just the News reported that "The New York Times reported that some interpreted this mention to mean that Gabbard had met with a senior leader of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, but Gabbard adamantly denied this."

The NSA concluded that while the leaked information accurately contained one of the eavesdropping contents, Gabbard had never actually met with Hezbollah leaders.

Intelligence officials have identified potential leakers among Democratic Senate Intelligence Committee staff who had access to the eavesdropping materials prior to the Times' report, sources said.

The matter had been pending within the Department of Justice for months, with senior leadership unaware of the concerns. Then, a few weeks ago, Kash Patel, the acting director of the FBI, became aware of its existence, Just the News reported.

Tulsi Gabbard has dealt a powerful blow to the deep state. Earlier this year, she filed criminal complaints against several intelligence whistleblowers with the Department of Justice, calling them "deep state criminals" leaking information for partisan purposes to undermine Trump.

She prohibited intelligence agencies from sharing classified information regarding the Ukraine negotiations with "Five Eyes" partner countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) to protect American interests.

She also declassified numerous documents proving that Barack Obama and his associates knew from the outset that the conspiracy with Russia was a complete sham.

By Sung Ku Hong, Chief Reporter, USA NNP / Special Contribution NNP info@newsandpost.com