Tulsi Gabbard is leaving her post as US director of national intelligence following a tumultuous stint in which she was largely sidelined as Donald Trump launched attacks on Venezuela and Iran.
In a letter to the US president, she said she would resign and leave her post on 30 June. “While we have made significant progress … I recognize there is still important work to be done,” she wrote.
The White House forced Gabbard to resign, the Reuters news agency reported, citing a source familiar with the issue. A spokesperson for Gabbard’s office said rumors that Gabbard had been forcibly ousted from office, were “100% false”.
In her resignation letter, Gabbard said her husband, Abraham, “has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer”. She added: “At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle.”
Gabbard was an unconventional choice for the role: the former Democrat lacked an intelligence background and her foreign policy views at times diverged with Trump’s, particularly on questions of overseas military intervention. And yet she also took unusual measures to ingratiate herself to the president by vowing to root out politicization across US spy agencies and embracing his agenda of election denial.
Over time, Gabbard became increasingly sidelined by the president, who excluded her from key national security conversations on Iran and Venezuela, according to people familiar with the office of the director of national intelligence.
US intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard leaving post after rocky tenure
Trump was asking cabinet members last month whether he should replace Gabbard, according to two people briefed on the discussions.
“Unfortunately, after having done a great job, Tulsi Gabbard will be leaving the Administration on June 30th,” he wrote in a statement on his Truth Social platform on Friday.
Gabbard “has done an incredible job, and we will miss her”, the president said, adding that Aaron Lukas, principal deputy director of national intelligence, would serve as acting director of national intelligence.
Trump’s pick for surgeon general sells supplement with ingredient banned by Pentagon
Donald Trump’s nominee for surgeon general sells an herbal supplement that contains an ingredient prohibited by the US military and which health experts have warned can cause liver damage.
Dr Nicole Saphier’s record of selling dietary supplements, which are only loosely regulated in the US, has raised concern among doctors and consumer advocates, some of whom allege she sells “snake oil”.
Kevin Warsh sworn in as Fed chair as Trump faces backlash over economy
Kevin Warsh has been sworn in as chair of the US Federal Reserve, tasked with steering the world’s largest economy as the Trump administration faces mounting pressure over Americans’ financial wellbeing.
Warsh, handpicked by Donald Trump, takes charge of the powerful central bank as it comes under extraordinary pressure from the US president to cut interest rates, even as prices climb.
US arms sales to Taiwan on ‘pause’ due to Iran war, says acting navy chief
US arms sales to Taiwan have been “paused” to ensure the US military has enough munitions for its Iran operations, according to Washington’s acting navy secretary, in the latest blow to Taipei after a series of comments by Donald Trump.
What else happened today:
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The US president, Donald Trump, and the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, on Thursday again raised the spectre of military intervention in Cuba, a renewed threat that takes on greater weight a day after the administration announced criminal charges against Raúl Castro, the island’s former leader.
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Attorneys for Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University student who last year became the face of the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestine speech, will ask the US supreme court to intervene after a federal appeals court opened the door for the government to once again detain and ultimately deport him.
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Get Me to the Church on Time, sang Alfred Doolittle in the musical My Fair Lady. But for Donald Trump, attending a wedding is not simple – even when it’s that of his son. The US president will not attend Donald Trump Jr’s nuptials, he confirmed on Friday, blaming “circumstances pertaining to Government, and my love for the United States of America”.
Catching up? Here’s what happened Thursday 21 May.
