Tulsi Gabbard steps down as U.S. intel chief, citing husband's cancer diagnosis

Tulsi Gabbard resigned as U.S. Chairwoman Donald Trump's theater director of subject intelligence service on fri, saying she needed to step away as her husband battles cancer. She is the fourth cabinet official to depart during Trump's second term.

In her resignation letter, which she posted on social media, Gabbard said she told Trump she would leave office on June 30. She said her husband had recently been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and "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," she wrote in the letter, which was earlier reported by Fox News.

Trump, in his own social media post announcing her resignation, said "Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her." He said her principal deputy, Aaron Lukas, will serve as acting director of national intelligence.

During Trump's first term, Lukas was as an intelligence aide to the acting director of national intelligence, Ric Grenell, in 2020. A former policy analyst at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank, he also served as deputy senior director for Europe and Russia at the National Security Council in the final year of Trump's previous administration.

There had been rumblings that Gabbard would split with Trump after the president's decision to strike Iran, which caused some division within his administration. Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced his resignation in March, saying he "cannot in good conscience" back the war.

Today, with great humility and sincere appreciation, I shared the below letter with President Trump. It has been a profound honor to serve the American people as DNI. <a href="https://t.co/p7AZ4wa9Yi">pic.twitter.com/p7AZ4wa9Yi</a>

Gabbard, a veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, built her political name on her opposition to foreign wars. This put her in an awkward position when the U.S. Joined Israel in launching attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.

During a congressional hearing in March, her measured comments were notable for their careful non-endorsement of Trump's decision to strike Iran. She repeatedly dodged questions about whether the White House had been warned of potential fallout from the conflict, including Iran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump's national intelligence chief grilled over Iran war justification

Gabbard said in written remarks to the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee that there had been no effort by Iran to rebuild its nuclear capability after U.S. Attacks last year "obliterated" its nuclear program. That statement contradicted Trump, who has repeatedly asserted that the war was necessary to head off an imminent threat from the Islamic Republic.

This created several awkward exchanges with lawmakers who asked Gabbard for her opinion on the threat posed by Iran as the nation's top intelligence official. She repeatedly said it was Trump's decision to strike, not hers.

"It is not the intelligence community's responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat," she said.

Gabbard's departure follows Trump having ousted U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in late March, in the midst of mounting criticism over her leadership of the department.

The second cabinet member to leave was U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, in response to growing frustration over the U.S. Justice Department's handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein. And U.S. Labour Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned in April, after being the target of various misconduct investigations.

A veteran but without any intelligence experience, Gabbard was a surprising choice to head the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which oversees the nation's 18 intelligence agencies. She ran for president in 2020 on a progressive platform and her opposition to U.S. Involvement in foreign military conflicts.

Citing her military experience, she argued that U.S. Wars in the Middle East had destabilized the region, made the U.S. Less safe and cost thousands of American lives. Gabbard later dropped out of the race and endorsed the ultimate winner, U.S. President Joe Biden.

Two years later she left the Democratic Party to become an independent, saying her old party was dominated by an "elitist cabal of warmongers" and "woke" ideologues. She subsequently campaigned for several high-profile Republicans and became a contributor to Fox News.

She later endorsed Trump, who also was a strong critic of past U.S. Wars in the Middle East and campaigned on a pledge to avoid unnecessary wars and nation-building overseas.

But friction with the president started soon after he began his second term and tapped Gabbard to lead ODNI, which was set up after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to improve co-ordination between the nation's intelligence agencies.

Shortly after taking on the job, Gabbard testified before lawmakers that there was no intelligence suggesting Iran was seeking to develop nuclear weapons. After Trump launched attacks on Iranian nuclear sites in June he said Gabbard was wrong and that he didn't care what she said.

She appeared to be back in Trump's good graces when she took a lead role in Trump's effort to relitigate his 2020 election loss to Biden, whom Gabbard had endorsed. She appeared at an FBI search of election offices in Fulton County, Ga., even though her office was created to focus on foreign espionage, not state elections.

Earlier this week, however, she testified to lawmakers during an annual threats hearing that last year's strikes on Iran's nuclear sites had "obliterated" their nuclear program and that there had been no subsequent effort to rebuild.

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