Butler’s followers practice a form of Hinduism that involves devotion to a single deity, in their case Krishna, and certain expectations around meditation, yoga and diet.

Some former members, however, have called the group a cult and said disciples were isolated from the outside world, characterizations the group has denied. Former devotees had been telling me for weeks that Butler controlled his followers’ major life decisions and demanded total obedience and secrecy. They said he spent years working to extend his reach into politics — and they suspected Gabbard’s rise in Washington was the culmination of that effort......

The memos covered a dizzying range of matters. I found a 173-page dossier from 2014 titled “TG Issues.” It compiled advice for Gabbard on dozens of topics — from taxes to the mysterious disappearance that year of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and more. The document was peppered with imperatives. “Start introducing bills,” it said on one issue. “Need to get on it and hit hard. Stop being weak,” it said on another.

Syria was the subject of many of the memos, including one from August 2016 that documented tactical advice on one of Gabbard’s signature policies: preventing the United States from ousting then-Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

The memo quoted an unnamed adviser saying she should reiterate her opposition to U.S. intervention in Syria’s civil war, even as a shocking image of a wounded 5-year-old made headlines. “The CIA is the one that started this thing,” the person said. Gabbard made that claim publicly three years later.

As I examined the document, eight months after Gabbard’s confirmation as director of national intelligence, I found it striking that such deep suspicion of U.S. intelligence appeared to have been fed to someone who would later coordinate the CIA, the National Security Agency and more than a dozen similar agencies......

As the general election race got underway, transcripts show, an unnamed adviser spoke admiringly about Trump’s campaign messaging. In one, the unnamed speaker said Trump had staked out the kind of maverick position that Gabbard might have taken.

“This is right up your ally [sic],” the speaker said about some of Trump’s remarks on “Islamic extremists” in America. “Too bad you’re not running. It’s all falling into place, but for the wrong guy. Now Trump is going to be the one, and he’s a total idiot.”....

Memos sent before Trump entered politics suggested an affinity for some of the ideas he would later adopt. In two of them, an unnamed adviser said the government needed to think “America first,” which famously became a slogan of Trump’s movement. Another recommended occupying inner cities with the National Guard.

During the 2016 campaign, Butler devotees researched senior Trump advisers, including Stephen Miller and Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, emails show.....

After Trump won in November 2016, Gabbard shocked Democrats by meeting him at Trump Tower.