Tulsi Gabbard is set to resign in June as US director of national intelligence, citing her husband’s diagnosis with a rare form of bone cancer, according to a letter she shared on Friday on X.
“I am deeply grateful for the trust you placed in me and for the opportunity to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence,” Gabbard wrote in a letter addressed to US President Donald Trump.
“My husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer. He faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months. At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle,” the letter said.
Gabbard’s departure will cement the exit of sceptics of the Iran war and interventionism in the Trump White House.
Joseph Kent, a close ally of Gabbard and the former director of the National Counterterrorism Centre, resigned from his position in March over the US-Israeli war on Iran.
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Kent said he could not “in good conscience” continue to serve the administration because it succumbed to “pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby” to attack Iran.
Gabbard’s letter did not mention the war. She said that she was “forever grateful” to Trump for selecting her to serve as director of national intelligence.
Reuters reported, however, that Gabbard had been “forced out” by the White House.
Trump did not allude to any tensions in his social media post, as he acknowledged Gabbard’s resignation.
“Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her,” Trump wrote on X. He added that she “rightfully” wanted to be with her husband and bring “him back to good health”.
No changes expected
Gabbard’s departure is unlikely to change the Trump administration’s policy on Iran or Israel. The Wall Street Journal and other outlets have reported that she has been largely sidelined from major decisions on the war. During the US attack on Venezuela at the beginning of this year, Gabbard was on a beach in Hawaii, her home state.
Trump has long been distrustful of the US intelligence community, but his appointed CIA director, John Ratcliffe, has become more prominent. For example, he recently visited Cuba, where the Trump administration is imposing devastating sanctions and a blockade.
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Gabbard’s most important input on the Iran war came in the form of written testimony to the US Senate Intelligence Committee in March, where she ruled that Iran had made “no efforts” to rebuild its uranium enrichment capabilities following the US’s June 2025 strikes on three nuclear facilities.
Those comments contrasted with remarks from Trump, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and envoy Steve Witkoff that Iran was on the cusp of acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Gabbard did not read that testimony aloud to members of the Senate.
Gabbard was a one-time 2020 Democratic US presidential candidate. She underwent a major political transformation, from supporting progressive Senator Bernie Sanders to endorsing the centrist Democrat Joe Biden, and then campaigning for Trump in 2024.
Gabbard served two tours in the US military. Her first was a 12-month tour in Iraq in 2004, and then she later served a stint in Kuwait in 2009, where she trained the country’s counterterrorism unit.
She served as a Democratic congresswoman from 2013 to 2021, staking out positions against military intervention.
She called for the US to pull its military out of Afghanistan back in 2011 and has continued to advocate that Washington also pull its troops from Syria, where a contingent of 900 soldiers is stationed in the northeast of the country.
Gabbard was also critical of US support for the Saudi Arabia-led coalition’s war efforts in Yemen, and co-sponsored legislation to end arms sales to Riyadh in 2019.
