WASHINGTON — National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, an outspoken critic of past U.S. military interventions abroad, appears to have fallen out of favor with President Donald Trump as he weighs military action against Iran, according to multiple senior administration officials with knowledge of the matter.
Gabbard allies insist that, while there is some White House tension, some of the public blowback is overstated, and none interviewed by NBC News expect her to leave the administration as a result of the president’s Iran policy, even if that includes direct U.S. involvement.
Gabbard’s politically perilous position burst into the open this week when Trump brushed her back over her testimony to Congress in March. At that time, she said the U.S. intelligence community did not believe Iran was building a nuclear weapon — a comment at odds with Trump’s recent public statement about the threat posed by Iran’s potential nuclear program.
“I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having one,” Trump told reporters Tuesday on Air Force One.
A person with knowledge of the matter said the U.S. intelligence community’s view has not changed since Gabbard’s testimony in March.
But the idea that a president would openly refute his director of national intelligence immediately spurred questions about whether she is now iced out of decision-making on the issue.
It also reflects a rift that is playing out publicly in Trump’s MAGA coalition, with some supporters advocating standing by Israel in whatever military action it takes against Iran and others saying intervention would go against the “America First” philosophy. Trump’s criticism of U.S. involvement in past conflicts — and his campaign promise to be a “peacemaker” in his second term — brought in unusual bedfellows, such as Gabbard, who had been a Democratic congresswoman.
Multiple senior administration officials said Gabbard has been sidelined in internal administration discussions about the conflict between Israel and Iran. Even two of her allies who spoke to NBC News acknowledged that her standing took a hit when she posted a video on June 10 after a trip to Hiroshima, Japan. The video, which featured the simulated destruction of American cities and Gabbard warning about the dangers of nuclear war, annoyed the White House team, the officials said.
Gabbard did not attend a meeting of top officials June 8 at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, to discuss tensions between Israel and Iran, which raised fresh questions about her status in the administration. A White House official told NBC News that Gabbard was not present only because she had to take part in scheduled training as a member of the National Guard.
Gabbard’s past positions on Iran, coupled with her recent comments and Trump’s responses to them, have forced top administration officials into a difficult position. Gabbard has seemingly been at odds with the administration line, but not to the point where they feel the need to abandon her.
“Tulsi is a veteran, a patriot, a loyal supporter of Pres Trump and a critical part of the coalition he built in 2024,” Vice President JD Vance said in a statement Tuesday. “She’s an essential member of our nat sec team, & we’re grateful for her tireless work to keep America safe from foreign threats.”
Other Republicans, though, have taken shots at her recent Iran comments.
“She obviously needs to change her meds,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Jewish Insider last week.
Gabbard has long used her public platform to oppose U.S. military action against Iran and has been working behind the scenes to try to find a diplomatic solution, two of the administration officials said.
In one case, Gabbard sought to enlist the help of European allies who have communication channels with Tehran, an official said.
That stands, at times, in direct conflict with Trump’s public comments about the now open fight between Israel and Iran, a fight he himself has acknowledged might now require U.S. intervention.
“I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” Trump told reporters Wednesday.
Gabbard allies who spoke to NBC News acknowledge that the video was not received well by White House officials but said reported rifts between her and Trump on the issue have been overstated.
“I have heard that also,” a Gabbard ally said of the tension spurred by the Hiroshima video. “But I don’t think it reached the level of the president himself. I am told the matter has been ‘resolved.’”
The Gabbard ally downplayed any idea that she would resign over the public Trump rebuke or whether the United States got directly involved in the Iran-Israel conflict.
“The online claim that she will resign if the president decides to take direct action in Iran are false,” the person said.
The video, however, did circulate widely among White House aides, and it left many wondering why she was taking such a public position as tensions escalate and Trump appears ready to get further involved.
“I think she is generally in OK standing,” a Republican operative familiar with administration thinking said. “In situations like this, folks with more traditional Republican and neocon views are going to use the opportunity to minimize her influence.”
Asked about the recent video on Hiroshima, Gabbard’s deputy chief of staff, Alexa Henning, said: “Acknowledging the past is critical to inform the future. President Trump has repeatedly stated in the past that he recognizes the immeasurable suffering, and annihilation can be caused by nuclear war, which is why he has been unequivocal that we all need to do everything possible to work towards peace.”
As a Democratic congresswoman, presidential candidate and supporter of Trump’s 2024 campaign, Gabbard portrayed herself as a fierce opponent of what she sees as America’s misguided military interventions overseas, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and U.S. assistance for rebels in Libya and Syria.
In last year’s electoral campaign, Gabbard accused the Biden administration of bringing the United States “closer to the brink of nuclear war than we ever have been before.”
During Trump’s first term in office, Gabbard strongly criticized his handling of Iran and his decision to pull the United States out of a 2015 nuclear agreement that imposed limits on Tehran’s nuclear work in return for an easing of sanctions.
If Trump decides to order military strikes on Iran amid talk by Israel that military pressure might cause the Tehran regime to collapse, Gabbard would find herself in an awkward political position. She has vowed to ensure America no longer engages in “regime change” wars.
Gabbard’s being warmly welcomed into Trump’s MAGA political base during the last presidential election was seen at the time as an injection of ideological diversity.
A Trump administration official acknowledged that the heterodox views that made her a welcome addition to the MAGA movement now mark her as an outsider in an administration appearing to coalesce around a policy antithetical to those views.
“If you adopt a Chihuahua, you should not be surprised that you have a Chihuahua,” the person said.
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