Gabbard resigns as DNI acting role set

Gabbard resigns – Tulsi Gabbard said she is resigning as President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, citing her husband Abraham Williams’ diagnosis with a rare form of bone cancer and making her departure effective June 30. Trump said Aaron Lukas will become act

Tulsi Gabbard didn’t announce her exit with a press conference or a flourish. By Friday, she had already told President Donald Trump she planned to resign—after discussing the move during an Oval Office meeting—and she posted the resignation letter on X.

The date attached to the decision was June 30.

Gabbard. who serves as director of national intelligence. said her husband. Abraham Williams. had been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer. In her letter. she told Trump she was “deeply grateful for the trust you placed in me and for the opportunity to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for the last year and a half.” She said she could not “in good conscience” ask him to “face this fight alone” while she remained in a demanding job.

Trump responded quickly. On his Truth Social platform, he said Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Aaron Lukas would become acting director. Trump described Lukas as a former CIA officer and analyst who served on the National Security Council during Trump’s first term. He also said Gabbard had done “a great job. ” adding that. with her husband’s cancer diagnosis. she “rightfully. wants to be with him. bringing him back to good health as they currently fight a tough battle together.”.

But behind the family-care explanation, another narrative has formed—one that does not rely on illness.

A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Gabbard had been forced out by the White House. saying the White House had been unhappy with her “for quite some time.” The White House did not respond to a request for comment. but Davis Ingle. a White House spokesperson. said on X that Gabbard was departing in light of her husband’s diagnosis.

The dispute matters because Gabbard’s tenure as DNI—an agency created to oversee 18 U.S. intelligence agencies after the September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda attacks—was already charged with political controversy.

When Trump tapped the former Democratic member of Congress to lead the office. Gabbard had no deep intelligence experience. and her background was a different kind of military service. She served in Iraq from 2004 to 2005, became an officer, transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve and attained the rank of lieutenant colonel. She later served in the Hawaii National Guard.

Her path into the national intelligence spotlight came after she left Congress. adopting conservative viewpoints. endorsing Trump for president in 2024 and joining the Republican Party. During her time out of politics and into the national-security job. she drew bipartisan criticism for comments seen as echoing Russia’s statements blaming NATO for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. and for meeting former Syrian President Bashar Assad during a 2017 trip to Damascus during a brutal civil war in which he received Russian and Iranian backing.

Once she took office, Democrats accused Gabbard of using the DNI role to advance Trump’s drive to retaliate against his perceived enemies, and to support his efforts to prove debunked claims that fraud foiled his re-election in 2020.

Tensions with the White House appeared to surface in policy disagreements as well. In June, Trump suggested Gabbard was wrong in assessing there was no evidence that Iran was building a nuclear weapon. She was also absent from deliberations between Trump and top national security advisers on major foreign policy issues. including the U.S. military operation that deposed former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the Iran war and Cuba.

The source describing a pushout placed part of the White House displeasure on activities of Gabbard’s task force known as the Director’s Initiatives Group. The group worked to declassify documents related to the death of former President John F. Kennedy, investigate the security of election machines and probe the origins of COVID-19.

The source also pointed to another flashpoint involving security clearances. Gabbard revoked, last August, the security clearances of 37 current and former U.S. officials, an action that exposed the name of an intelligence officer serving undercover overseas. She led efforts that she cast as rooting out politicization from the intelligence community. and the White House dispute included the fact that she approved stripping security clearances from former intelligence officials. including former CIA Director John Brennan.

Senator Mark Warner. the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee and a leading Gabbard critic. said Friday in Manassas. Virginia that her job had become too politicized. Warner said the position “now more than ever needs to be an independent. experienced intelligence professional.” He added that the next leader should understand the director of national intelligence should be focusing on foreign intelligence and not involving himself or herself in domestic election incidents.

The immediate outcome is clear: Gabbard’s resignation is set to take effect June 30, and Trump has named Aaron Lukas—currently principal deputy—as acting director.

What remains unsettled is how much of the departure reflects a personal obligation and how much reflects the internal friction described by those close to the decision. For now. both narratives are living side by side: Gabbard’s stated reason centered on her husband’s rare bone cancer diagnosis. and the other account centered on a White House that. according to a source. had been unhappy with her “for quite some time.”.

Tulsi Gabbard Director of National Intelligence Aaron Lukas Trump White House security clearances Iran nuclear Mark Warner Office of the Director of National Intelligence Director’s Initiatives Group