WSJ Minute Briefing
Spy Agency Says It Can’t Share Gabbard Whistleblower Intelligence With Congress
25 Feb 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your midday brief for Wednesday, February 25th.
I'm Alex Oselev for The Wall Street Journal. We're exclusively reporting that the Trump administration told lawmakers it won't share classified intelligence related to a whistleblower complaint against spy chief Tulsi Gabbard.
In an email to Democratic congressional staffers sent earlier this month, Gabbard's office informed lawmakers that it can't provide the unredacted documents, quote, due to the assertion of executive privilege on portions of the intelligence.
Two of the top Democrats on the Congressional Intelligence Committees have sent a letter this week asking who asserted that privilege and on what basis. The Journal has reported that the intelligence relates to a conversation between foreign nationals about Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
In another exclusive, we're reporting that Bill Gates has apologized to staff at the Gates Foundation over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The Microsoft co-founder admitted that his past association with Epstein has cast a cloud over the philanthropic group's reputation, but also insisted that he didn't participate in Epstein's crimes.
During a town hall meeting yesterday, Gates acknowledged having two affairs with Russian women that Epstein later discovered, but that they didn't involve Epstein's victims.
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Chapter 2: Why can't Congress access Gabbard whistleblower intelligence?
And Circle, the issuer of the world's second-largest stablecoin, said its fourth-quarter profit jumped as crypto investors continued to flock to its stablecoin despite the meltdown in digital asset prices late last year. The company also reported that its total revenue surged 77 percent to $770 million, beating analyst expectations. Its shares were up about 20 percent in midday trading.
Heads up, an artificial intelligence tool helped us make this episode by creating summaries that were based on WSJ reporting and then reviewed and adapted by an editor. We'll have more coverage of the day's news on the WSJ's What's News podcast. You can add it to your playlist on your smart speaker or listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.