Tulsi Gabbard suggests Operation Mockingbird lives on, says intel still using media to attack Trump

WASHINGTON, DC: It looks like Tulsi Gabbard just declared war on the CIA’s propaganda playbook.

In a sit-down on Thursday, July 31, with conservative influencer Benny Johnson, US Director of National Intelligence Gabbard claimed that covert media manipulation operations, like the infamous CIA-run “Operation Mockingbird”, are not just Cold War relics, but alive and kicking in 2025.

Tulsi Gabbard accuses intel insiders of manipulating media to sabotage Donald Trump’s agenda

When Benny Johnson brought up “Operation Mockingbird”, the CIA’s now-declassified effort to plant pro-government narratives in the press during the Cold War, Tulsi Gabbard didn’t flinch.

“The media being used as a propaganda mechanism, we saw it flatly,” Johnson began, pointing fingers at the Russia probe and the “Obamagate” drama.

“I think it's the smoking gun, quite frankly,” Johnson continued, arguing that the intel community had the press eating out of its hand. “Some would say that that's part of Operation Mockingbird... the intel agencies were using media outlets as their mouthpieces, and those mouthpieces would parrot the official narrative.”

“Is this operation still going on?” he asked.

“It’s something that we’ve already had to deal with, Benny,” Gabbard revealed.

“There are people within the intelligence community who believe that their will is more important than the will of the American people,” she said, adding that these shadowy figures “will weaponize intelligence by leaking [intel] to their friends in the mainstream media with the intent of undermining President Donald Trump's agenda."

"It is not one that he hasn't already talked about in every rally and town hall that he did throughout the campaign. I don't even know how many there were. But President Trump is enacting the very thing he promised the American people he would do in this election."

She didn’t mince words about their motives either. “They are subverting the will of the people and therefore undermining the Constitution,” she said. “None of these intelligence professionals were elected. The president of the United States was. That’s the difference."

Tulsi Gabbard vows to expose rogue intel agents and restore trust through transparency

Benny Johnson remarked, “It’s wild that you’re still having to deal with that. Call it what you will, but Operation Mockingbird, just incredible that they were just out with it.”

To this, Tulsi Gabbard responded with both a warning and a promise.

“This is why what we're doing is so important, Benny,” she said. “And this is why President Trump's mandate in this is really critical.” She said it’s not just about rooting out rogue actors. 

“By exposing the truth, by exposing the bad actors within the intelligence community and in the political space who are weaponizing intelligence to advance their own political interests, is so important,” Gabbard said. “To be able to turn the light on in places that have been dark for far too long, expose the truth, and drive accountability. That's the only way that we can actually shift this and begin the work to try to restore trust in the intelligence community.”

Tulsi Gabbard hints Cold War-era media manipulation may still be active 

It's worth noting that Operation Mockingbird was first exposed during a 1970s Senate investigation, when lawmakers discovered that the CIA had quietly infiltrated dozens of newsrooms, feeding them government-approved storylines in the name of fighting the Red Menace.

Federal officials claimed the operation ended decades ago, but Tulsi Gabbard’s remarks suggest it may still be very much in play.

While the CIA has never officially admitted to any ongoing media influence campaigns, declassified documents have confirmed that the Cold War-era program did exist.

“It’s not about agreeing or disagreeing,” Gabbard insisted. “As intelligence professionals… they are required to fulfill their mandate, to their oath to the Constitution of the United States and to the president of the United States, who was duly elected by the American people."

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