Tulsi Gabbard resigning as director of national intelligence, citing husband’s cancer diagnosis

Washington — Tulsi Gabbard announced Friday that she is resigning as director of national intelligence, stepping down after her husband was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer.

In a letter to President Trump, Gabbard said her resignation would take effect June 30.

“My husband, Abraham, was recently diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer. He will face major challenges in the weeks and months to come. At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him in this battle,” she said. “I cannot, in good conscience, ask him to face this fight alone while I continue to occupy this demanding and time-consuming position.”

Gabbard said her husband had been her “rock” during their 11-year marriage, which included deployment, political campaigns and his role in the Trump administration.

“His strength and love have sustained me through every challenge,” she said, adding that she was “fully committed to ensuring a smooth and complete transition over the coming weeks.”

Mr. Trump praised Gabbard in an article on Truth Social, saying she “did an incredible job.” He said Aaron Lukas, Gabbard’s deputy in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, would serve as acting director.

Gabbard’s resignation was first announced by Fox News.

Gabbard is the fourth Cabinet member to leave the administration this year, following the departures of Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.

His departure will create an opening in a crucial role overseeing the 18 agencies that make up the country’s intelligence community amid the war with Iran.

Gabbard’s tenure

Gabbard, a former Democratic lawmaker who broke with her party to support Mr. Trump in 2024, was sworn in to her post in February 2025. She has strongly opposed military intervention in Iran throughout her political career.

Appearing before Congress earlier this year, Gabbard did not express support for the current war, telling members that it was up to the president to determine what constitutes an “imminent threat.”

In March, Gabbard’s top aide, Joe Kent, who headed the National Counterterrorism Center, resignedasserting that “Iran poses no imminent threat to our nation.” Gabbard told lawmakers that Kent’s statement concerned her, without elaborating.

“At the end of the day, we provided the president with the intelligence assessments and the president is elected by the American people and makes his own decisions based on the information he has,” she said.

Before the bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities in 2025, Mr. Trump said Gabbard was “wrong” when she testified before lawmakers earlier this year that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon. Following Mr. Trump’s rejection of the assessment, Gabbard accused the media of “taking my testimony out of context.”

Gabbard also raised alarms in January when she showed up at election headquarters in Fulton County, Georgia, while the FBI executed a search warrant and took ballots and other materials related to the 2020 election. Democrats questioned why the intelligence chief was involved in domestic law enforcement operations.

As DNI, Gabbard said last summer that she would reduce office staff by around 40%, bringing its workforce to around 1,300 people. She estimates these cuts would save about $700 million a year. Gabbard said at the time that ODNI had become “bloated and ineffective, and the intelligence community is rife with abuse of power.”

In a statement regarding her departure, Arkansas Republican Rep. Rick Crawford, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Gabbard had made “significant progress” on Mr. Trump’s priorities, including “implementing necessary reforms to combat the militarization and politicization” of the intelligence community and “taking concrete steps to increase transparency.”

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that Gabbard’s replacement “must be committed to restoring trust in the office, protecting the integrity of our intelligence, and ensuring that our nation’s intelligence professionals can speak truth to power, without fear or interference.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the president “should not view this vacancy as yet another opportunity to reward loyalty over competence.”

“Senate Democrats will fight any nominee who puts Trump’s policies ahead of America’s security,” the New York Democrat said.