US Director of National Intelligence resigns after clash with Trump over Iran war
US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced her resignation on Friday (22 May) local time. Gabbard cited her husband Abraham Williams’s illness—he has been diagnosed with a very rare form of bone cancer—as the reason behind her decision.
Rumours circulated that the White House pressured her to resign, with Reuters reporting that Gabbard had been pressured to quit. It was also reported that during her tenure she had clashed with President Donald Trump over the war launched by the US and Israel against Iran.
A Fox News report said Gabbard told Trump of her intention to resign in a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on Friday (22 May) local time. The resignation of Gabbard, who has served since 2025, would take effect from 30 June, according to Fox News.
In a letter to Trump posted on X, Gabbard said she was stepping down as Director of National Intelligence to care for her husband, Abraham Williams, who was recently diagnosed with “a very rare bone cancer”. “He faces a tremendous challenge in the weeks and months ahead. At this time, I must withdraw from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle,” Gabbard said, referring to her husband.
Gabbard, a former US Congresswoman from the Democratic Party, is married to her husband, a Hawaii-based cinematographer, in a Hindu ceremony. The couple met while filming campaign advertisements, and Williams proposed while they were surfing at sunset.
Trump Praises Tulsi Gabbard as “Extraordinary”
Trump praised Gabbard, calling her work “extraordinary”. As Director of National Intelligence, Gabbard had the job of coordinating information from a broad network spanning 18 US intelligence agencies for daily briefings to the US President.
“Tulsi has done an extraordinary job, and we will miss her,” Trump said in a statement via Truth Social, while adding that Gabbard “rightly” wished to help her husband in his fight against cancer.
Trump added that Gabbard’s deputy, Aaron Lukas, would serve as Acting Director of National Intelligence.
Gabbard has become the fourth woman to leave Trump’s cabinet in recent months. Trump has reportedly fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in March and Attorney General Pam Bondi in April. Meanwhile, Labour Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned in April amid a series of scandal.
Rumours surfaced that Gabbard had been forced to resign by the White House. A source familiar with the matter, cited by Reuters, claimed she had been forced to resign by the White House. But the White House quickly denied such rumours.
“This is incorrect. Her husband, who is an extraordinary man, has been diagnosed with a rare bone cancer,” said Gabbard’s chief of staff, Alexa Kenning, in a post on X. White House spokesperson Davis Ingle added: “Any suggestion that the White House forced her to resign because of her husband’s health is a smear.”
Gabbard clashed with Trump over the Iran war during her time in Congress, positioning herself as anti-interventionist and opposing US military action abroad. This created tensions after Trump decided to strike Iran at the end of February.
Gabbard reportedly did not attend when Trump consulted his top advisers ahead of launching strikes against Iran on 28 February. After the US-Israel war against Iran erupted, Gabbard avoided publicly endorsing Trump’s decision. In a March congressional hearing, Gabbard carefully avoided questions about whether the government understood the potential impact of the war.
She also refused to back Trump’s claim that Iran posed a real threat — an assessment used by the Trump administration to justify the attack on Tehran.
Last year, BBC reported that Trump appeared to ignore Gabbard’s statements before the US Congress about Iran not seeking to build nuclear weapons. “I don’t care what she says. I think they (Iran) are very close to having a weapon,” Trump told reporters at the time. Trump has repeatedly cited Iran’s nuclear capability as a reason for the US war against Iran.
The resignation comes two months after her top adviser, former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent, left the Trump administration over the Iran war. Kent urged Trump to “change direction”.
After Kent’s departure, Gabbard publicly supported Trump’s decision on military action in Iran, saying that as commander-in-chief, Trump is responsible for determining what constitutes a direct threat and what does not.