Tulsi Gabbard recently resigned as director of national intelligence, in charge of nearly a score of intelligence agencies. At her co formation hearing, she answered questions about her ties to a cult leader, and she responded that she was unfairly tarnished because of her Hindu faith. She was duly confirmed.

Jon Swaine of The Washington Post remained curious about her ties to a man of mystery in Hawaii named Chris Butler. Butler was the leader of a breakaway Hare Krishna group, called the Science of Identity Foundation (SIF). Gabbard’s parents had senior posts in Butler’s group.

Swaine interviewed former members of Butler’s group, who told him that “Butler controlled his followers’ major life decisions and demanded total obedience and secrecy.”

In November 2025, Swaine spoke to one of Gabbard’s campaign workers, Rebecca Saltzburg, who assured him that Tulsi took instructions from no one.

Nine months later, Saltzburg called him to say she wanted to talk. She had had a falling-out with SIF, and she decided to talk to Swaine.

She turned over hundreds of emails between Gabbard and someone at SIF who gave her instructions while she was in Congress.

Their content was extraordinary.

Dozens of attached memos appeared to document directives and advice for Gabbard from her time in Congress. Some contained instructions on what legislation she should propose, which policies she should embrace and how she should conduct herself on television. They had an air of authority. A memo about a proposal to partition war-torn Iraq into three states quoted an unnamed person as saying it was “time for TG to come up with this idea…”

Swaine asked Saltzburg about the identity of the person who was telling Gabbard what to say and which policies to support.

When I asked Saltzburg about this, she seemed amused. It was Butler, of course, she said. No one else could speak to Gabbard like that, she added. Saltzburg said the memos were unattributed precisely to mask Butler’s identity if they ever became public.

Saltzburg eventually shared more than 25,000 emails and files to Swaine, showing the relationship between Gabbard and SIF.

A number of emails to Gabbard gave her instructions that she followed precisely.

An Oct. 12, 2015, memo labeled “CNN Wolf Blitzer Talking points (Final)” contained this language about reports that she had been asked by Democratic leadership not to attend a presidential debate: “It’s not a ‘boohoo, I don’t get to go to the party’ situation, Wolf.” I dug up the clip of her appearance that day and found that she had used the line almost verbatim: “The issue here is not about me saying boo-hoo, I’m going to miss the party.”

The limited remarks attributed to Gabbard in the memos appeared to show her enthusiastically embracing the guidance. “TG: That’s perfect, that line right there,” said one transcript labeled “Iraq notes — call.” A line attributed to “TG” in another transcript said, “That’s a great way to put it.”

Here’s another example of Tulsi Gabbard complying with instructions from SIF:

A January 2015 memo documented an unnamed adviser’s proposal to attack John F. Kerry, then secretary of state, for saying violent activity by the Islamic State and al-Qaeda was rooted not in Islam but in “alienation, poverty, thrill seeking and other factors.” If that were true, the adviser said sarcastically, the way to deal with terrorists would be to “give them a trophy, a big hug, increase their self-esteem, give them a good paying job.”

In a Fox News interview later that day, Gabbard repeated the Kerry quote and gave a similar mocking punch line. “If that’s really the cause, then the solution would be give them a trophy, give them a hug, give them a good-paying job,” she said…

The time frame of documents we reviewed meant they could not show whether Gabbard continued receiving guidance after she left Congress and eventually joined the Trump administration. But I found echoes of years-old guidance in her more recent remarks. One phrase in particular stood out.

In 2014, Hoen emailed Gabbard a statement for posting online that said Gabbard made every decision through the prism of “the safety, security, and freedom of the American people.” She repeated that phrase in the first paragraph of her 2024 memoir, and after she was nominated by Trump, Gabbard made it her mantra, using it in her Senate confirmation hearing, her inaugural statement as DNI, her presentation of this year’s annual threat assessment and many other occasions.

On May 20, having received no answers from Gabbard to my questions for two months, I emailed her, her press secretary and her chief of staff. I let them know we planned to proceed with a story about her association with Butler. I again invited Gabbard to address my questions.

Two days later, Fox News reported that Gabbard — whose departure had been rumored for months — would be leaving the position of DNI this month because her husband had been diagnosed with a rare bone cancer. Some commentators observed that she still had a promising political future, maybe even more so because she was not aligned with Trump on the Iran war and other unpopular policies.

Jeff Bezos has done his best to defang the great newspaper he bought. He’s done his best to avoid alienating Trump.

But the newspaper still has some great and fearless reporters.