Tulsi Gabbard Resigns As Trump’s Intelligence Chief After Husband’s Cancer Diagnosis

Tulsi Gabbard said on Friday she was resigning from her job as President Donald Trump's director of national intelligence, saying her husband had been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and she was leaving her role to help him.

Gabbard ​advised Trump of her intention to step down during an Oval Office meeting on Friday, Fox News Digital reported earlier. The resignation is effective June 30, it said.

In ‌her resignation letter posted on X, Gabbard told Trump she was "deeply grateful for the trust you placed in me and for the opportunity to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for the last year and a half."

She cited her husband Abraham Williams' recent diagnosis of bone cancer.

"I cannot in good conscience ask him to face this fight alone while I continue in this demanding and time-consuming post," she said.

Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Aaron Lukas will take over as acting director, Trump announced on his Truth Social platform. During Trump's first term, Lukas, a former CIA officer and analyst, served on the National Security Council.

Gabbard did "a great job," according to Trump, but given her husband's cancer diagnosis, "she, rightfully, wants to be with him, bringing him back to good health as they currently fight a tough ⁠battle together."
Experts speculate that the White House had forced out Gabbard.

In March, Trump stated that Gabbard was "softer" than him when it came to limiting Tehran's nuclear aspirations, hinting at contrasts between the two countries' approaches to Iran.

In April, according to Reuters, sources had claimed Gabbard could lose her role in a broader cabinet shakeup where Trump ousted Bondi and Homeland Security ⁠Secretary Kristi Noem.