Tulsi Gabbard announced Friday she is resigning from her job as President Trump’s top intelligence officialto help her husband cope with a rare form of bone cancer. She will officially depart Trump’s cabinet on June 30.
“My husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer,” Gabbard wrote in a resignation letter that Trump posted online on Friday. “At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle.” Gabbard’s husband, Abraham Williams, is a photographer based in her home state of Hawaii.
Gabbard’s departure as Trump’s Director of National Intelligence comes as he remains mired in a war with Iran for which Gabbard’s support was questioned. After Trump launched attacks against Iran in February, her public statements about intelligence assessments conflicted with Trump’s description of Iran’s nuclear capabilities. She stopped short of agreeing with Trump that Iran’s nuclear program posed an imminent nuclear threat.
Writing on Truth Social, President Trump said Gabbard “has done an incredible job, and we will miss her.” Aaron Lukas, Gabbard’s deputy, will take over as acting director, Trump said.
Gabbard served eight years representing Hawaii as a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2017 to 2021. She first rose to political prominence within the Democratic Party over her outspoken skepticism of U.S. entanglements in foreign wars. She courted controversy when she opposed the U.S. military intervening in the Syrian civil war, and in 2017, met in person with Bashar Assad, Syria’s then dictator. She gained a reputation for taking public policy positions that echoed Russian propaganda.
Gabbard ran for president in the Democratic primaries in 2020. She left the Democratic party in 2022 criticizing the party of “anti-white racism” and being “hostile to people of faith and spirituality.” She then endorsed Trump in the 2024 election.
Gabbard has previously served in the national guard and is currently a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army reserves. She has deployed three times to the Middle East and Africa.
Trump’s decision to nominate Gabbard was criticized within the intelligence community, both for her history of controversial positions, as well as her lack of experience in intelligence. In her eight years in Congress, she never served on the House intelligence Committee.
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