Tulsi Gabbard resigns as director of national intelligence, citing her husband’s health

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tulsi Gabbard resigned as President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence on Friday, saying she had to step down while her husband battled cancer, becoming the fourth Cabinet member to leave Trump’s second term.

In her resignation letter published on social media, Gabbard said that she told Trump that she would leave her position overseeing the coordination of 18 intelligence agencies on June 30. Gabbard said her husband was recently diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and “faces huge challenges in the weeks and months ahead.”

“I must step away from public service at this time to be with him and fully support him in this fight,” he wrote in the letter, previously reported by Fox News.

“Tulsi did an incredible job and we will miss her,” Trump said in his own social media post. He said his top aide, Aaron Lukas, will serve as acting director of national intelligence.

Although Gabbard said her departure was due to personal reasons, the juxtaposition between her longstanding anti-interventionist stance and Trump’s series of overseas military operations appeared to set them on a collision course.

Iran pitted Gabbard against Trump

There were rumors that Gabbard would leave Trump following the president’s decision to strike Iran, causing some divisions within his administration. National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent said: announced his resignation in March and said he “could not in conscience support” the war.

Gabbard, a veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, built her political name on her opposition to foreign wars. This put him in an awkward position when the United States joined Israel in attacks on Iran on February 28.

At a congressional hearing in March, his measured comments were notable for their cautious disapproval of the Iran war. He repeatedly dodged questions about whether the White House had been warned about possible consequences of the conflict, including Iran effectively shutting down Iran. Strait of Hormuza vital waterway for global oil shipments.

In her written statement to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Gabbard said Iran had made no effort to rebuild its nuclear capacity after US strikes last year “destroyed” its nuclear program. This statement contradicted Trump, who has repeatedly claimed that the war was necessary to ward off an imminent threat from the Islamic Republic.

That sparked awkward exchanges among lawmakers who asked Gabbard for her opinion on the threat Iran poses as the country’s top intelligence official. He has repeatedly said that the attack was Trump’s decision, not his.

“It’s not the intelligence community’s responsibility to determine what is and isn’t an imminent threat,” he said.

Gabbard’s departure comes after Trump Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s dismissal In late March, amid growing criticism of the department’s leadership — including the administration’s handling of immigration crackdown and disaster response.

The second Cabinet member to leave was Attorney General Pam Bondi, in response to growing frustration with the Justice Department’s handling of the files on Jeffrey Epstein. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned in April after being the target of several misconduct investigations.

Lukas, who will replace Gabbard, served as intelligence deputy to acting director of national intelligence Ric Grenell during Trump’s first term in 2020. A former policy analyst at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, Trump also served as senior deputy director for Europe and Russia on the National Security Council during the final year of Trump’s previous administration.

A surprising choice for business

He is a veteran soldier but does not have any intelligence experience. Gabbard It was a surprising choice for Director of National Intelligence. He ran for president in 2020 on a progressive platform and opposed U.S. involvement in foreign military conflicts.

Citing his military experience, he argued that U.S. wars in the Middle East have destabilized the region, made the United States less safe, and cost thousands of American lives. Gabbard later dropped out of the race and endorsed the eventual winner: the President. Joe Biden.

Two years later, he left the Democratic Party and became president. independentHe said his former party was led by “an elitist cabal of warmongers” and “woke” ideologues. He later campaigned for many high-profile Republicans and contributed to Fox News.

He later supported Trump, who has also been a strong critic of past U.S. wars in the Middle East and campaigned on promises to avoid unnecessary wars and nation-building abroad.

Iran caused early tensions

But friction with the president began shortly after he began his second term, placing Gabbard as head of the ODNI, which was created after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to improve coordination among the nation’s intelligence agencies.

Shortly after taking office and before this year’s war, Gabbard testified before lawmakers that there was no intelligence indicating Iran was trying to develop nuclear weapons. After Trump launched an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities last June, he said Gabbard was wrong and said: You didn’t care what he said.

He appeared to return to Trump’s favor when he played a leading role in Trump’s effort to recoup his 2020 election loss to Biden. Although his office was created to focus on foreign espionage, not state elections, he was discovered in an FBI search of election offices in Georgia’s Fulton County.

Gabbard has made big changes in her tenure

Gabbard has vowed to stamp out what she says is the politicization of intelligence by people within the government. But he quickly used his office to support some of Trump’s most partisan claims that he won the 2020 election.

He also worked undermine Results of previous investigations into Trump’s ties to Russia.

During her year on the job, Gabbard oversaw a sharp reduction in the intelligence workforce as well as the creation of a new task force to be staffed by herself. tasked with considering major changes to the intelligence service.

Earlier this year, an intelligence industry whistleblower filed a complaint that Gabbard was withholding intelligence for political reasons; This complaint led Democrats to call for Gabbard’s resignation.

Gabbard, 44, was born in the US territory of American Samoa, grew up in Hawaii and spent a year of her childhood in the Philippines. He was first elected to the Hawaii House of Representatives at age 21 but had to leave after one term when his National Guard unit deployed to Iraq.

Gabbard, the first Hindu member of the House, took the oath of office using the Hindu devotional work Bhagavad Gita. He is also First American Samoan elected to Congress.

during his four House termsHe became known for speaking out against his party’s leadership. His early support for Sen. Bernie Sanders ‘ The 2016 Democratic presidential primaries made him a popular figure in progressive politics nationally.

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Kinnard reported from Columbia, S.C.