Schiff Condemns Gabbard After DNI Resignation Fallout

Sen. Adam Schiff offered condolences to Tulsi Gabbard after she resigned as President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence to focus on her husband’s bone cancer diagnosis, then sharply attacked her record—saying she “politicized intelligence,” dism

Tulsi Gabbard’s resignation from the Trump administration landed with a deeply personal note—her husband, Abraham, was recently diagnosed with “an extremely rare form of bone cancer”—and with sharp political consequences almost at once.

Sen. Adam Schiff, the California Democrat, sent his condolences on Friday to Gabbard and her family. “My thoughts go out to Tulsi Gabbard and her family, as her husband battles this serious health problem,” Schiff wrote on X. “I hope and pray that he makes a speedy and full recovery.”

Gabbard said she would step down next month, using X to explain that she was resigning to focus on her husband. Trump confirmed the change on Truth Social.

But Schiff did not stop at sympathy. He turned quickly to attacking Gabbard’s tenure at the director of national intelligence, targeting both the decisions he says she made and the reasons he says she made them.

“While the circumstances around her departure are deserving of our sympathy, let’s be clear: Tulsi Gabbard’s only positive contribution to our national security is her resignation,” Schiff said. “She politicized intelligence: She dismantled critical agencies keeping Americans safe.”

He added that Gabbard “weaponized the IC to pursue baseless election fraud claims,” and warned that her time in the role—“marked by a devotion to the person of the president and not to the security of the country”—should be viewed as “a terrible exception at DNI and not the new normal.”

Republican lawmakers and allies responded with anger at Schiff’s language, even as his message to Gabbard opened with prayers for Abraham’s recovery.

White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson called Schiff’s comments “Disgusting.” Trump’s U.S. ambassador to Israel. Mike Huckabee. went further. posting on X that Schiff “had NO class. ” writing that he “proved to be a serial liar who fabricated hateful charges against @realDonaldTrump” and adding: “but his comments about @TulsiGabbard are a new low for someone I didn’t think could sink any lower. He just did.”.

Gabbard arrives at this moment with a political record that has long unsettled her critics. Before joining the Trump administration, she presented herself as an anti-war progressive. She called former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton the “queen of warmongers” and frequently criticized what she described as unnecessary U.S. wars.

During her time in the Trump administration, Gabbard accused former President Barack Obama of orchestrating a “yearslong coup and treasonous conspiracy” to undermine the president.

Schiff’s break with decorum—offering condolences while delivering a pointed judgment—has now put the debate back where it has often centered in Washington: whether the intelligence community is being protected for national security or steered toward political aims.

Trump’s personnel move also keeps attention on the intelligence leadership chain. On Truth Social, he said Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Aaron Lukas will become the acting director. Lukas, a former CIA officer, is an analyst who served on the National Security Council during Trump’s first term.

Adam Schiff Tulsi Gabbard director of national intelligence DNI Trump administration Aaron Lukas election fraud claims intelligence community Abigail Jackson Mike Huckabee U.S. politics