Washington — Tulsi Gabbard stated Friday that she is resigning because the director of nationwide intelligence, stepping apart after her husband was recognized with a uncommon type of bone most cancers.
In a letter to President Trump, Gabbard stated her resignation can be efficient June 30.
“My husband, Abraham, has lately been recognized with an especially uncommon type of bone most cancers. He faces main challenges within the coming weeks and months. At the moment, I have to step away from public service to be by his aspect and totally assist him by this battle,” she stated. “I can’t in good conscience ask him to face this struggle alone whereas I proceed on this demanding and time-consuming place.”
Gabbard stated her husband has been her “rock” throughout their 11-year marriage, which has included a deployment, political campaigns and her function within the Trump administration.
“His power and love have sustained me by each problem,” she stated, including that she is “totally dedicated to making sure a easy and thorough transition over the approaching weeks.”
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP by way of Getty Photographs 
Mr. Trump praised Gabbard in a submit on Reality Social, saying she “has completed an unbelievable job.” He stated Aaron Lukas, Gabbard’s deputy on the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence, will function appearing director within the interim.
Gabbard’s resignation was first reported by Fox Information.
Gabbard is the fourth Cupboard member to depart the administration this 12 months, following the departures of Lawyer Common Pam Bondi, Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.
Her departure will create a gap in an important function overseeing the 18 businesses that comprise the nation’s intelligence neighborhood amid the conflict with Iran.
Gabbard’s tenure
Gabbard, a former Democratic lawmaker who broke together with her social gathering to endorse Mr. Trump in 2024, was sworn into her submit in February 2025. She had been firmly against army intervention in Iran all through her political profession.
Showing earlier than Congress earlier this 12 months, Gabbard didn’t categorical assist for the present conflict, telling members that it is as much as the president to find out what constitutes an “imminent risk.”
In March, Gabbard’s high aide Joe Kent, who led the Nationwide Counterterrorism Middle, resigned, saying “Iran posed no imminent risk to our nation.” Gabbard informed lawmakers that Kent’s assertion involved her, with out elaborating.
“Finally, we’ve supplied the president with the intelligence assessments and the president is elected by the American individuals and makes his personal choices primarily based on the data that is out there to him,” she stated.
Earlier than the bombings of Iran’s nuclear services in 2025, Mr. Trump stated Gabbard was “fallacious” when she testified to lawmakers earlier that 12 months that Iran wasn’t constructing a nuclear weapon. Following Mr. Trump’s dismissal of the evaluation, Gabbard accused the media of “taking my testimony out of context.”
Gabbard additionally raised alarms in January when she appeared at elections headquarters in Fulton County, Georgia, whereas the FBI executed a search warrant and took ballots and different information associated to the 2020 election. Democrats questioned why the intelligence chief was concerned in home regulation enforcement operations.
As DNI, Gabbard stated final summer season she would slash her workplace’s employees by round 40%, slicing its headcount to round 1,300. She estimated the cuts would save round $700 million yearly. Gabbard stated on the time that the ODNI had change into “bloated and inefficient, and the intelligence neighborhood is rife with abuse of energy.”
In an announcement about her departure, GOP Rep. Rick Crawford of Arkansas, the chairman of the Home Intelligence Committee, stated Gabbard made “vital progress” on Mr. Trump’s priorities, together with “implementing wanted reforms to handle the weaponization and politicization” of the intelligence neighborhood and “taking actionable steps to extend transparency.”
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the highest Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, stated in an announcement that Gabbard’s alternative “should be dedicated to restoring belief within the workplace, defending the integrity of our intelligence, and making certain our nation’s intelligence professionals can communicate fact to energy, with out concern or interference.”
Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer stated the president “should not deal with this emptiness as one other alternative to reward loyalty over competence.”
“Senate Democrats will struggle any nominee who places Trump’s politics forward of America’s safety,” the New York Democrat stated.
