Tulsi Gabbard resigns as Iran clash fuels rival claims

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said she will resign, citing her husband Abraham Williams’ rare bone cancer diagnosis. Her exit ignited competing right-wing conspiracy claims—ranging from alleged CIA moves to “Deep State” plots—just as speculat

On Friday, Tulsi Gabbard announced she would leave the job. The reason she gave was deeply personal: her husband, Abraham Williams, has been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer.

In her resignation letter to President Donald Trump, Gabbard wrote, “At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle.”

For people following the Director of National Intelligence portfolio, the timing landed like gasoline on a simmering fire. Gabbard—sworn in as DNI director in the Oval Office on Wednesday. February 12. 2025. with Trump standing beside her and Abraham Williams—had spent months as a lightning rod. Her departure, amid public fractures over U.S. policy toward Iran, quickly became more than a personnel change. It became a battle over who was responsible.

Gabbard represented Hawaii as a Democrat in Congress from 2013 to 2021. and observers had long wrestled with why she was such a polarizing pick for the intelligence post. Before politics. she grew up in a spiritual movement in Hawaii called the Science of Identity Foundation. described by some critics and ex-members as an offshoot of Hare Krishna and dubbed by them a cult. A Gabbard spokesperson said such criticism is unfounded and amounts to “Hinduphobia.”.

That background didn’t just live in the past. During her 2020 presidential campaign, observers debated whether her upbringing influenced her beliefs. Over her career. critics pointed to what they saw as a soft spot for autocrats. including a 2017 secret meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. After that meeting, Gabbard said she was “skeptical” that Assad carried out a chemical gas attack on his own people. In response to a question on CNN’s Wolf Blitzer about whether she believed Assad “bears any responsibility for the horrific deaths that have occurred in his own country. ” she offered. “There’s responsibility that goes around.” Human Rights Watch. by contrast. has described Assad as having carried out “widespread and systematic” gas attacks against Syrian people.

Gabbard also drew backlash for how she spoke about Ukraine ahead of Russia’s invasion. She claimed the invasion could have been avoided if NATO and the Biden Administration had acknowledged what she called Russia’s “legitimate security concerns.”

Even after her appointment as DNI director, she moved fast to signal alignment with Trump. She accused the Obama administration of a “treasonous plot” against Donald Trump during the 2016 elections. But she fell out of favor with the president. and by April of this year. she was reportedly not invited to strategy meetings on the Iran war.

In that gap between loyalty and access, rumors rushed in. Once her resignation became public, speculation surged—especially on the right—about who really drove the exit. Some tied her departure to the CIA. others to the Israeli intelligence service Mossad. and still others pointed to a broader. nonspecific “Deep State.”.

Reuters reported that Gabbard was “forced out” by the White House, a claim a spokesperson there denied. Still, for months, rumors had circulated that she would be dismissed over differences with Trump about the Iran war. One of the loudest voices in that ecosystem was Laura Loomer. a far-right provocateur and close confidante of President Trump’s. Loomer claimed since earlier this year that Gabbard would be gone before the midterms. a prediction that ended up matching the outcome.

The contradiction between private cause and public narrative didn’t stay contained to Washington. It spilled into a wider MAGA conversation that has grown increasingly fractured, particularly over the Iran war.

As Gabbard’s resignation letter spread, some conservatives amplified claims that her leave was tied to a conspiracy. One narrative centered on a supposed CIA raid on her office. In mid-May, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) claimed the CIA had raided Gabbard’s office. taking documents related to the JFK assassination and MKUltra. the CIA’s infamous mid-century mind control research program. Gabbard’s office quickly denied that such a raid had taken place. and the story was never corroborated at the time. But the moment she announced her resignation, self-styled MAGA journalists and influencers brought the allegation back to life.

Rebekah Worsham. a conservative online political commentator who calls herself “The Patriotic Blonde. ” tweeted that Gabbard—she said—had “her office raided just before she was set to disclose classified documents on JFK and MK Ultra last week. ” and would now be stepping down for “family matters.” Worsham called it “Shocking.”.

Patrick Webb. founder of a fake news website called Leading Report that often shares COVID and other conspiracy theories. echoed the broader thrust of the accusation. He baselessly claimed that the CIA had been “illegally spying” on Gabbard over her investigations “into the alleged COVID-19 cover-up. the assassinations of JFK. RFK. and MLK. and UAPs” (unidentified aerial phenomena).

Then came wider, more sweeping claims tied to the Iran policy dispute. Lauren Lee. a MAHA influencer. tweeted. “We are witnessing the systematic purging of conscience from government.” She added: “Charlie Kirk. MTG. Massie. Joe Kent. Tulsi Gabbard. Anyone who opposes the Iran war is getting eliminated or resigning for ‘family reasons.’ A very. very bad sign about what they’re planning next.”.

Behind the noise, there was also a straightforward political reality: even before her resignation, Gabbard’s tenure had been turbulent. The Atlantic pointed out that her time in office had included spinning conspiracy theories and taking pugnacious stances that seemed aimed at winning Trump’s attention and approval. She claimed former U.S. officials tried to wage a “yearslong coup” on Trump and accused them. baldly. of “treason.” She also released a highly classified document that shed light on Russian interference in the 2016 election. despite objections from other intelligence agencies.

Still, Trump’s view of her loyalty appeared to be the deciding factor. In the end. none of her public flights of rhetoric—nor the intelligence decisions that came with them—was enough to impress him. What Trump seemed to focus on was her ultimate disagreement with his position: that Iran had not rebuilt its nuclear program.

In one hearing, Gabbard refused to say whether Iran posed an imminent nuclear threat to the United States, saying that assessment was up to the president—a role she was effectively expected not to defer.

Axios reported that Trump planned to fire her last month before former Trump campaign director and confidante Roger Stone persuaded him not to. Stone later tweeted, “Fortunately, I acted in time,” while accusing Laura Loomer—whom he’s been bitterly feuding with—of orchestrating the situation.

Stone’s intervention did not stop the scramble for explanations. Instead, it intensified the jockeying, turning her resignation into a referendum on power, loyalty, and who gets to tell the story.

Gabbard’s exit follows a broader churn inside the administration. She is the fourth woman to leave the Trump administration in recent months. after Attorney General Pam Bondi. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer. Just days ago, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s daughter-in-law. Amaryllis Fox Kennedy. a former CIA undercover agent. left two of her jobs: as a deputy to Gabbard and as an associate director at the Office of Management and Budget. Joe Kent, the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, also recently resigned, citing his opposition to the Iran war.

At the moment, Gabbard is no longer in the DNI chair. But the questions she left behind—why her influence seemed to collide with Trump’s strategy, and how much of that collision will be written as conspiracy—are already taking on new targets.

Steve Bannon. a former Trump advisor. declared on his show The War Room that Gabbard “got fired. ” and he fused the competing claims into one story: “This is Ratcliffe and the CIA and the Mossad. This is a hostile takeover of the DNI [Director of National Intelligence].” (Ratcliffe refers to John Ratcliffe. director of the CIA.).

For people watching the intelligence apparatus. the emotional core of the resignation remains the same: a wife stepping away to be at her husband’s side through a rare cancer diagnosis. For the political machine that feeds on suspicion, that same announcement became an accelerant. By the time the resignation letter hit the internet. the next act had already started—conspiracy theories and feuds looking for their next place to land.

Tulsi Gabbard Director of National Intelligence DNI Abraham Williams rare bone cancer Donald Trump Iran war conspiracy theories CIA Mossad Deep State Reuters Pam Bondi Kristi Noem Lori Chavez-DeRemer Amaryllis Fox Kennedy Office of Management and Budget Joe Kent National Counterterrorism Center Roger Stone Laura Loomer Anna Paulina Luna