CIA Took Files About JFK and MK-ULTRA From Tulsi Gabbard in the 'Middle of the Night,' Republican Rep Claims

Florida Republican, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, publicly alleged that the CIA seized files in the middle of the night regarding the John F. Kennedy assassination and the MKUltra human experimentation program from the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard and refuses to return them.

Gabbard's office has denied that any such raid took place, calling the allegations "false.”

Luna claimed that CIA agents, based on whistleblower testimony from James Eardman III, took dozens of boxes of documents that were in the process of being declassified by Gabbard.

She described this as a potential "internal coup" aimed at preventing transparency.

“Well, the CIA does not have jurisdiction to work against an executive order by the president, and so the fact that someone did this when the president is out of country– from what I gather I believe that [CIA director John] Ratcliffe is with him, and so this seems like it was an internal coup, to be honest," she told NewsNation’s Katie Pavlich Tonight.

“We were actually just notified that the CIA went in and took documents out of ODNI. Multiple boxes pertaining to the JFK files, as well as MK-ULTRA. The reason why this is troubling is, A) There was an executive order that the president had directed the full declassification of JFK,” she said.

MKUltra was an illegal, top-secret human experimentation program run by the CIA from 1953 to roughly 1973. Initiated during the Cold War under CIA Director Allen Dulles and managed by chemist Sidney Gottlieb, its primary goal was to develop mind control techniques, chemical interrogation methods, and "truth serums" to weaponize against communist adversaries.

“But then also to the MK-ULTRA files, the CIA has famously said that, you know, all documents were released and other documents had been destroyed, so these are allegedly those documents that apparently never existed, and so very troubling,” Luna said.

Luna gave the CIA 24 hours to return the documents, threatened to issue a subpoena, and stated that she had contacted House Oversight Chairman James Comer to prevent the destruction of records.

“I did just talk to Chairman [James] Comer, and we are sending in the next hour or so a preservation of documents request to the CIA. I have called into the White House, to the director of the CIA himself, and so obviously as this develops, we will keep everyone up to date, but strange times we’re living in, that’s for sure,” she said.

Olivia Coleman, press secretary for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, stated on X that reports of a raid are inaccurate: "This is false — the CIA did not raid the DNI's office.”

The incident sparked a massive political controversy regarding executive authority and the declassification of long-hidden records. The situation is part of a high-stakes, ongoing dispute over intelligence transparency in early 2026.

Following the interview and Gabbard's denial, Pavlich clarified that the documents were legally taken last year, not last night.

“People from the CIA took documents (related to the JFK assassination/MKUltra) from the National Reconnaissance Office *last year* in the middle of the night during the government shutdown and have not returned/is withholding them from ODNI,” Pavlich clarified. “Because the CIA is withholding these documents, they cannot be declassified and scanned for public release.”