Last Friday, just before the long holiday weekend, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard resigned, effective as of June 30, citing her husband\u2019s recent cancer diagnosis as the factor that forced her decision. A source told Jonathan Landay and Erin Blanco of Reuters that President Donald J. Trump had forced her out. Certainly, he has sidelined her.<\/p>\n
Congress created the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) in 2004 after concluding that intelligence failures, including a lack of communication across agencies, had contributed to the vulnerability that permitted the 9\/11 attacks. The ODNI is supposed to oversee the eighteen different intelligence agencies and to coordinate the information they produce.<\/p>\n
Gabbard did not have deep experience in intelligence and had endorsed Russian talking points about Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine when Trump named her director of ODNI. Trump\u2019s former national security advisor John Bolton called her \u201ca hand grenade ready to explode.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabbard ran into trouble with Trump by June 2025, when she released a video warning of \u201cnuclear holocaust\u201d because \u201cpolitical elite warmongers are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers.\u201d They were bringing the world \u201ccloser to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before,\u201d she said. She released the video days before Trump launched his first attack on Iran, and a former intelligence officer told Nick Schifrin of PBS that Trump considered the video an attempt to try to convince him not to launch the strikes.<\/p>\n
Afterward, Gabbard seemed to try to regain Trump\u2019s favor by backing his extremist pet projects, including accusing former president Barack Obama of leading a \u201ctreasonous conspiracy\u201d and calling for him to be prosecuted over the FBI\u2019s investigation of the ties between Trump\u2019s 2016 presidential campaign and Russian operatives. She also oversaw an FBI raid at the Fulton County, Georgia, election headquarters during which the administration scooped up all the physical ballots from the 2020 presidential election, as well as ballot images, tabulator tapes, and the voter rolls from that election.<\/p>\n
But she never recovered her standing with the president. As Shane Harris noted in The Atlantic, while Trump was preparing to invade Venezuela and extract its president and his wife, Gabbard was posting pictures of herself on a Hawaiian beach.<\/p>\n
Trump stayed in the White House over the weekend, missing his son Don Jr.\u2019s wedding in the Bahamas with a social media post explaining that \u201c[w]hile I very much wanted to be with my son, Don Jr., and the newest member of the Trump Family, his soon to be wife, Bettina, circumstances pertaining to Government, and my love for the United States of America, do not allow me to do so. I feel it is important for me to remain in Washington, D.C., at the White House during this important period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whatever else might be going on, Trump is under pressure to find a way out of Iran. Not only are prices skyrocketing owing to the rising cost of oil after Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz in response to attacks from the U.S. and Israel, but the clock has run out on any authorization he could have claimed for his military adventure in Iran, and Congress seems ready to force his hand.<\/p>\n
Congress alone can declare war, but the 1973 War Powers Act permits the president to act against an \u201cimminent\u201d threat so long as he notifies Congress within 48 hours. Then he has 60 days to get congressional approval. That timeline ran out on May 1, and the administration claimed it didn\u2019t need authorization because it had declared a ceasefire on April 7, although it continued to maintain a blockade against Iranian ports\u2014an act of war\u2014and to exchange fire with Iranian forces. Republicans in Congress appeared to accept that argument for a time. But last Thursday, House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had to send representatives home a day early to keep members from passing a war powers resolution that would order Trump to remove U.S. troops from his war on Iran.<\/p>\n
The House and Senate will come back on June 2, and Trump clearly would like to have an agreement with Iran in place before they do.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s social media account over the weekend was active. He twice posted an image of himself leering over Greenland with the caption \u201cHello, Greenland!\u201d and repeated suggestions that \u201cChina Loves Trump.\u201d He posted an AI image of Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) as a devil (I think), calling him a \u201cSLEAZEBAG\u201d and a \u201cDumocrat,\u201d and an image of eight lawmakers or officials in orange jumpsuits (except for Obama\u2019s tan one), claiming they had \u201cCaused tremendous damage through Weaponization!\u201d And he posted a number of images of colorful fountains.<\/p>\n
But much of the account\u2019s attention this weekend was on Iran. On Saturday morning the account posted an image of Iran covered by a U.S. flag, and at 4:30 that afternoon, it posted that Trump had just had a call with leaders from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Pakistan, T\u00fcrkiye, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain, and then a separate call with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, about Iran. All the calls \u201cwent very well,\u201d according to the post.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn Agreement has been largely negotiated,\u201d the post read, \u201csubject to finalization\u2026. Final aspects and details of the Deal are currently being discussed, and will be announced shortly. In addition to many other elements of the Agreement, the Strait of Hormuz will be opened.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Iran\u2019s state media immediately posted that Trump\u2019s claim that the strait would reopen as it was before the war was \u201cnot true,\u201d adding that \u201cit should be noted that American officials have acknowledged in multiple messages to Iran that Trump\u2019s tweets are primarily for promotional purposes and media consumption within the United States, and they have recommended that no attention be paid to these statements.\u201d<\/p>\n
Firm details about the deal were scarce, but as journalist David Schuster posted, Al-Jazeera reported that the deal included \u201cunfreezing billions in Iranian funds, lifting U.S. blockade, pulling U.S. forces away, reopening strait of Hormuz though with tolls to Iran, and allowing Iran to keep its enriched uranium.\u201d \u201cThis would be a total U.S. surrender,\u201d Schuster noted. Iran\u2019s military spokesperson Ibrahim al-Fiqar posted an AI image of Trump kneeling before Iran\u2019s supreme leader with the caption \u201cThe end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS), chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, immediately condemned the deal. He told reporters it \u201cwould be a disaster. Everything accomplished by Operation Epic Fury would be for naught.\u201d Wicker urged Trump to \u201callow America\u2019s skilled armed forces to finish the destruction of Iran\u2019s conventional military capabilities and reopen the strait. Further pursuit of an agreement with Iran\u2019s Islamist regime risks a perception of weakness. We must finish what we started. It is past time for action.\u201d<\/p>\n
By Sunday morning Trump was, once again, posting AI images of U.S. bombers attacking Iranian ships (complete with bodies flying through the air) and insisting that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiated between the U.S., China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Iran during the Obama administration was \u201c[o]ne of the worst deals ever made by our Country.\u201d Under the JCPOA, Iran agreed to reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium significantly and allow inspections, in exchange for relief from some sanctions. The Strait of Hormuz remained open. Although inspectors said Iran was honoring the deal, Trump took the U.S. out of the JCPOA in 2018, and the following year, Iran resumed work on enriched uranium necessary for a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n
Trump added that he expected Middle Eastern countries, including Iran, to join the Abraham Accords, the deal hammered out during Trump\u2019s first term under which the UAE and Bahrain formally recognized Israel. According to Barak Ravid of Axios, Arab leaders met Trump\u2019s suggestion of such a recognition during the Saturday phone call with silence.<\/p>\n
Then his account posted: \u201cIf I make a deal with Iran, it will be a good and proper one, not like the one made by Obama, which gave Iran massive amounts of CASH, and a clear and open path to a Nuclear Weapon. Our deal is the exact opposite, but nobody has seen it, or knows what it is. It isn\u2019t even fully negotiated yet. So don\u2019t listen to the losers, who are critical about something they know nothing about. Unlike those before me who should have solved this problem many years ago, I don\u2019t make bad deals!\u201d<\/p>\n
This morning, Trump\u2019s account posted: \u201cI laugh at all of the Dumocrats, RINOS, and Fools who know nothing about the potential deal I am making with Iran, things that haven\u2019t even been negotiated yet.\u201d \u201c[T]hey are losers! The deal with Iran will either be a great and meaningful one, or there will be no deal. It will be the exact opposite of the JCPOA disaster negotiated by the failed Obama Administration, which was a direct and open path to a Nuclear Weapon for Iran. No, I don\u2019t do deals like that!\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, on Meet the Press Sunday, Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY), who last week lost the primary for reelection to his seat after Trump backed his opponent and Trump supporters threw a gobsmacking $35 million at the contest, reopened fire from a different direction. Massie has been key to demanding the release of the Epstein files, and the administration continues to ignore the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required the Department of Justice to release all the files no later than December 19, 2025.<\/p>\n
When host Kristen Welker, noting that Massie had named names from the files in the past, asked, \u201cCan we expect you to name more names in the coming weeks and months?\u201d Massie answered: \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
Notes:<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us\/gabbard-resigns-trumps-national-intelligence-director-fox-news-digital-reports-2026-05-22\/<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/gabbard-trump-putin-intelligence-russia-syria-a798adaf9cd531a5d0c9329f7597f0f6<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/06\/10\/tulsi-gabbard-nuclear-weapons-00396586<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/show\/tulsi-gabbards-record-and-impact-on-the-u-s-intelligence-community<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/national-security\/gabbards-unprecedented-claim-president-led-treasonous-conspiracy-rcna217151<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/national-security\/2026\/05\/tulsi-gabbard-resigns-odni-trump\/687280\/<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2025\/jul\/18\/tulsi-gabbard-obama-2016-election-russia<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.mississippifreepress.org\/trumps-iran-agreement-would-be-a-disaster-says-roger-wicker-a-top-republican-u-s-senator\/<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/05\/24\/world\/middleeast\/five-main-issues-iran-israel-nuclear.html<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/live\/2026\/05\/25\/world\/iran-war-trump<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/05\/24\/trump-iran-war-israel-muslim-countries-abraham-accords<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/armscontrolcenter.org\/the-iran-deal-then-and-now\/<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/thomas-massie-promises-to-expose-more-names-from-epstein-files-11989729<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/news\/insight\/record-35m-battle-tests-massie-ahead-of-kentucky-primary\/gm-GMB6071BD4<\/a><\/p>\n X:<\/p>\n Ibrahim_alFiqar\/status\/2058297686391210087<\/a><\/p>\n trumpstruth.org<\/a>:<\/p>\n statuses\/38710<\/a><\/p>\n statuses\/38716<\/a><\/p>\n statuses\/38719<\/a><\/p>\n statuses\/38724<\/a><\/p>\n statuses\/38722<\/a><\/p>\n statuses\/38743<\/a><\/p>\n statuses\/38748<\/a><\/p>\n statuses\/38749<\/a><\/p>\n statuses\/38753<\/a><\/p>\n statuses\/38755<\/a><\/p>\n statuses\/38763<\/a><\/p>\n Blueksy:<\/p>\n