Tulsi Gabbard to resign as US director of national intelligence

Tulsi Gabbard will resign from her position as the US director of national intelligence in the Trump administration. citing her husband's recent bone cancer diagnosis.

"His strength. love have sustained me through every challenge," she wrote in her resignation letter obtained by CBS News, the BBC's US partner. "I cannot in good conscience ask him to face this fight alone while I continue in this demanding. time-consuming position."

President Donald Trump said in a social media post that Gabbard "has done an incredible job,. we will miss her".

Her resignation is effective 30 June. Aaron Lukas, the principal deputy director, will step in as acting director, Trump said.

Gabbard. a loyal supporter of Trump during his 2024 presidential campaign, was confirmed as one of the most powerful figures in US intelligence-gathering weeks after he returned to the White House in 2025. But this year, she has largely been out of public view as the US has taken military action against Iran, put pressure on Cuba,. notably removed Venezuela's president.

Gabbard is the fourth Cabinet member to depart the Trump administration after Lori Chavez-DeRemer left her position as labor secretary in April. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi both left the administration earlier this year.

In her resignation letter, Gabbard said her husband, Abraham, "faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months."

Trump posted on social media that Gabbard "rightfully. wants to be with him, bringing him back to good health as they currently fight a tough battle together. I have no doubt he will soon be better than ever."

During her political career. she has positioned herself as an anti-interventionalist in foreign wars, creating tension after Trump decided to enter a war with Iran. Following US-Israel strikes on Iran. she avoided endorsing the decision, carefully evading questions during a congressional hearing in March about whether the administration knew of the conflict's potential fallout.

She alsofaced scrutinyduring questioning over what Democrats perceived as discrepancies between the White House's. intelligence community's claims about Iran's nuclear enrichment capabilities.

Last year, Trump appeared to dismiss Gabbard's declaration before Congress that Iran was not seeking to build a nuclear weapon.

"I don't care what she said," Trump told reporters at the time. "I think they were very close to having a weapon." He has repeatedly cited Iran's nuclear capability as a reason for the US war with Iran.

Gabbard's departure comes two months after her top aide. former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent,left the administrationover the war in Iran, urging the president to "reverse course".

Following Kent's resignation, Gabbard publicly backed Trump's decision in Iran, saying that as commander-in-chief, the president was responsible for determining what is. is not an imminent threat.

A military veteran who served with a medical unit in Iraq. Gabbard has had a number of political firsts in her career.

She was first elected to the Hawaii Legislature aged 21 in 2002, the youngest person ever elected in the state. She left after one term when her National Guard unit was deployed to Iraq.

Gabbard went on to represent Hawaii in Congress as a Democrat from 2013 until 2021 - becoming the first Hindu to serve in the House.

She ran an unsuccessful bid for president in 2020, positioning herself on an anti-interventionalist foreign policy platform.

In 2022, she left the Democratic Party. initially registered as an independent - accusing her former party of being an "elitist cabal of warmongers" driven by "cowardly wokeness".

As a contributor on Fox News, she was vocal on topics such as gender. freedom of speech, and became an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump before joining the Republican party.

She endorsed Trump in 2024, campaigned with him and served as a member of his transition team after the election.

Trump nominated her to be director of national intelligence shortly after he won the election. As head of the intelligence community, Gabbard coordinates among multiple intelligence agencies and advises the president.