Tulsi Gabbard resigning as intel chief, citing husband’s cancer diagnosis
Tulsi Gabbard resigns as intelligence chief and fourth member of Trump Cabinet leaves 02:02
Washington — Tulsi Gabbard said Friday that she is resigning as director of national intelligence and leaving her post after her husband was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer.
In her letter to President Trump, Gabbard said that her resignation would be effective as of June 30.
“My husband Abraham was recently diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer. He will face great challenges in the coming weeks and months. At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him in this battle,” she said. “I cannot in good conscience ask him to face this challenge alone while I continue in this challenging and time-consuming position.”
Gabbard said her husband was her “rock” throughout their 11-year marriage, which included deployments, political campaigns and his role in the Trump administration.
“His strength and love have sustained me through every challenge,” he said, adding that he was “fully committed to ensuring a smooth and comprehensive transition in the coming weeks.”
Tulsi Gabbard and her husband Abraham Williams embrace before being sworn in as director of national intelligence in the Oval Office on February 12, 2025. / Credit: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
Mr Trump praised Gabbard in a speech to post He said he “did an incredible job” at Truth Social. Aaron Lukas, Gabbard’s deputy at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, will serve as acting director on an interim basis, he said.
Gabbard’s resignation was reported for the first time Fox News.
Gabbard is the fourth Cabinet member to leave the administration this year, following the departures of Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.
His departure will open up a key role in overseeing the 18 agencies that make up the country’s intelligence community during the war with Iran.
Gabbard’s tenure
Gabbard, a former Democratic lawmaker who left her party to support Trump in 2024, was sworn into office in February 2025. Throughout his political career, he was staunchly opposed to military intervention in Iran.
Appearing before Congress earlier this year, Gabbard did not indicate her support for the current war and told members it was up to the president to determine what constitutes an “imminent threat.”
Gabbard’s top aide, Joe Kent, who runs the National Counterterrorism Center, in March. resigned“Iran does not pose an imminent threat to our nation,” he said. Gabbard told lawmakers that Kent’s statement concerned her, without going into detail.
“Ultimately, we gave the president the intelligence assessments, and the president is elected by the American people and makes his own decisions based on the information he has,” he said.
Mr. Trump before the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities in 2025 in question Gabbard was “wrong” when she testified to lawmakers earlier that year that Iran was not producing nuclear weapons. Gabbard after Mr Trump refused to evaluate accused the media “took my statement out of context”.
Gabbard also raised alarm in January when she appeared at election headquarters in Fulton County, Georgia, when the FBI executed a search warrant and obtained ballots and other records related to the 2020 election. Democrats questioned why the intelligence chief was involved in domestic law enforcement operations.
As DNI, Gabbard said last summer she would do so. cut staff in office decreased by approximately 40%, reducing the number of employees to around 1,300. He estimated the cuts would save about $700 million a year. Gabbard said at the time that ODNI had “become bloated and inefficient, and the intelligence community was rife with abuse of power.”
In a statement about her departure, GOP Rep. Rick Crawford of Arkansas, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Gabbard had made “significant progress” on Mr. Trump’s priorities; these include “implementing necessary reforms to address the weaponization and politicization” of the intelligence community and “taking actionable steps to increase transparency.”
Sen. of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Mark Warner said in a statement that Gabbard’s replacement “must be committed to restoring trust in the office, protecting the integrity of our intelligence, and ensuring that our nation’s intelligence professionals can speak truth to power without fear or interference.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the president “should not treat this vacancy as an opportunity to reward loyalty over competence.”
“Senate Democrats will fight any candidate who puts Trump’s politics ahead of America’s security,” the New York Democrat said. in question.
