Tulsi Gabbard has decided to step down from her role as Donald Trump’s top intelligence official, driven by the need to support her husband, who has recently been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer. This decision follows a period marked by increasing tension over the President’s controversial decision to initiate military action against Iran.
The announcement came after Gabbard met with President Trump in the Oval Office on Friday, where she handed in her resignation letter. Her official departure as Director of National Intelligence is scheduled for June 30.
Gabbard’s resignation marks the fourth departure from Trump’s Cabinet in just three months. She follows the exits of Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, highlighting an unusually high turnover rate among the women in Trump’s administration.
In her resignation letter, Gabbard expressed gratitude towards Trump, stating she was “deeply grateful for the trust you placed in me and for the opportunity to lead” the intelligence agency during her tenure of a year and a half.
She also shared personal news about her husband, Abraham Williams, noting that he “faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months,” which has prompted her to prioritize being by his side.
“At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle,” Gabbard explained, underscoring her commitment to her family during this difficult period.
Gabbard met Williams, a filmmaker and cinematographer, in 2012 when he volunteered on her congressional campaign in Hawaii, and the two married in a traditional Vedic ceremony in April 2015.
Gabbard represented the non-interventionist wing of Trump’s Cabinet, and her departure follows that of her deputy, Joe Kent, who resigned only months ago in a scathing letter accusing Israel of misleading the President into war with Iran.
Tulsi Gabbard has resigned as Donald Trump’s top intelligence chief, citing her husband’s recent diagnosis with a rare form of bone cancer , following months of growing friction over the President’s decision to launch a war against Iran
Gabbard met Williams, a filmmaker and cinematographer, in 2012 when he volunteered on her congressional campaign in Hawai i, and the two married in a traditional Vedic ceremony in April 2015
Gabbard is the fourth member of Trump’s Cabinet to resign in the past three months, after Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, an extraordinary attrition rate among the women serving under the President
Gabbard’s departure comes on the heels of Tuesday’s resignation of another top deputy, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, a former CIA officer who married into the Kennedy family.
Her resignation hours before Trump mysteriously backed out of his Donald Trump’s JR’s wedding this weekend, citing ‘circumstance pertaining to government.’
‘While I very much wanted to be with my son, Don Jr., and the newest member of the Trump Family, his soon to be wife, Bettina, circumstances pertaining to Government, and my love for the United States of America, do not allow me to do so,’ Trump wrote.
The sequence of events adds to growing concerns that stalled diplomatic talks with the Iranian regime could draw the US back into a full-scale war as early as this weekend.
Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu had a heated phone call on Tuesday night, with the Israeli prime minister pressing the president to resume the bombing campaign against Iran.
Throughout the war, Trump has relied on CIA Director John Ratcliffe as his point man on Iran intelligence, while Tulsi Gabbard has been sidelined.
On the first night of the war, she was photographed in Washington alongside non-interventionist Vice President JD Vance, while the President was pictured with Marco Rubio, Susie Wiles, and Ratcliffe.
Throughout her tenure as Director of National Intelligence, Gabbard declassified more than half a million pages of secret documents related to the Trump-Russia investigation and the JFK assassination.
