Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence and an advocate of a more restrained foreign policy, submitted a letter of resignation to President Trump on Friday, saying that she was stepping away to support her husband after he recently was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer.<\/p>\n
The departure will bring an end to Ms. Gabbard\u2019s rocky tenure overseeing the 18 U.S. intelligence agencies, during which she had been largely sidelined by the White House on significant national-security issues, including military operations in Iran and Venezuela.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump assembled a second administration last year with an unusual mix of foreign-policy hawks in one corner and critics of American entanglements overseas like Ms. Gabbard in the other. But Ms. Gabbard and her wing found themselves increasingly marginalized in recent months, and her departure marks the most significant exit yet from the coalition of restrainers.<\/p>\n
In her letter Friday, Ms. Gabbard, 45, said she would remain in her post as the nation\u2019s intelligence chief until June 30.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer,\u201d Ms. Gabbard said in her resignation letter, a copy of which was released by her office. \u201cHe faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months. At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle.\u201d Ms. Gabbard has been married to Abraham Williams, a cinematographer, since 2015.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump announced that Aaron Lukas, Ms. Gabbard\u2019s deputy, would serve as acting director of national intelligence.<\/p>\n
It was not clear whom Mr. Trump intended to nominate to replace Ms. Gabbard, a combat veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii who ran for president in 2020 before breaking with her party to support Mr. Trump in 2024.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump did not force Ms. Gabbard to resign on Friday, according to people familiar with the matter, but her standing and influence within the White House had continued to erode in recent months.<\/p>\n
In a post on Truth Social, Mr. Trump thanked her for her service in the administration. \u201cTulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Democrats, while expressing sympathy for Ms. Gabbard and her husband, made clear they had been dismayed by her performance. \u201cLet\u2019s be clear: Donald Trump must not treat this vacancy as another opportunity to reward loyalty over competence,\u201d Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Ms. Gabbard had been a controversial figure in the Trump administration. She was seldom seen in the room when Mr. Trump made major national-security decisions and was widely viewed within the administration and by lawmakers in Congress as not a key member of the president\u2019s team.<\/p>\n
Her problems began soon after she was narrowly confirmed to the job last year following an especially contentious confirmation hearing. Several Republican senators joined Democrats in aggressively questioning her about some of her past views, including her defenses of the former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden and Bashar al-Assad, the former Syrian dictator.<\/p>\n
As a fierce critic of the war in Iraq, Ms. Gabbard was closely aligned at times with Vice President JD Vance. But that put her out of step with Mr. Trump and many of his most influential advisers, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, who pressed for an increasingly aggressive foreign policy in Latin America and Iran.<\/p>\n