Tulsi Gabbard is resigning from her position as director of national intelligence. Gabbard made the announcement on Friday, saying she is set to leave her position in June.
Tulsi Gabbard cites her husband’s illness as her reason for resigning
Gabbard said she is resigning on June 30 because she needs to spend more time with her husband after he was diagnosed with cancer.
“My husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer,” Gabbard wrote in a letter to Donald Trump, per CNN. “He faces major 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 through this battle.”
Gabbard’s resignation comes after rumors of her departure surfaced in recent weeks. Despite the whispers, however, Gabbard insisted that she is not leaving. On Friday, the departing director of national intelligence confirmed her resignation in a letter to Trump. Gabbard told the president that she must stay close to her husband in this difficult time.
“Abraham has been my rock throughout our 11 years of marriage — standing steadfast through my deployment to East Africa on a Joint Special Operations mission, multiple political campaigns, and now my service in this role,” she wrote. “His strength and love have sustained me through every challenge. I cannot in good conscience ask him to face this fight alone while I continue in this demanding and time-consuming position.”
What were the controversies Tulsi Gabbard faced in the White House?
Gabbard’s stint as director of national intelligence was marked by some controversial moments. The 45-year-old former Democratic congresswoman clashed with Trump after she posted a video about the war on Iran. Gabbard said in her video that the world is “closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before.” She also said “political elite and warmongers” are stoking “fear and tensions between nuclear powers.”
Trump later fired back at Gabbard, insisting that Iran still poses an imminent threat to the world.
“I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having it,” the president told reporters, per CNN.
Trump, who launched airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June 2025, continued to justify his reason for launching another attack on the country in February. The president said Iran is rebuilding its nuclear facilities after the 2025 attack.
When Gabbard later made her remarks to the Senate Intelligence Committee, she told a different story.
“As a result of Operation Midnight Hammer (in June), Iran’s nuclear enrichment program was obliterated. There have been no efforts since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability,” she said at that time.
Gabbard ran for president in 2020, representing the Democratic Party. However, she later left the party and endorsed Trump in 2024. Gabbard, who describes herself as a proud Iraq War veteran, became a part of Trump’s transition team after he was elected president for a second term. Trump then chose her as director of national intelligence.