Washington,Tulsi Gabbard resigned from the Trump administration on Friday, resigning from her role as Director of National Intelligence (DNI) citing her husband’s health issues.
The 45-year-old posted her resignation letter on X (formerly Twitter) and also shared that her husband Abraham has been diagnosed with a very rare form of bone cancer.
“Major challenges lie ahead for him in the upcoming weeks,” Gabbard said, adding she has decided to step back from public service to support her husband in this fight.
“Abraham has been my rock through our 11 years of marriage — standing strong through my deployment to East Africa on a Joint Special Operations mission, multiple political campaigns and now my service in this role,” Gabbard said.
His strength and his love, have carried me through every trial. “I cannot in good conscience ask him to face this fight alone while I continue in this demanding and time consuming position,” she said.
Gabbard also thanked President Donald Trump for believing in her. “I am committed to ensuring that there is a seamless and complete transition so that the President and his team do not experience any disruption in leadership or momentum,” she said.
“I am grateful to the American people and to you for the profound honor of serving as DNI,” she said. “Thank you for your understanding of this deeply personal and difficult time for our family.
When Trump returned to the White House for a second term last February, he made Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, the intelligence chief. She was the eighth U.S. Director of National Intelligence.
Still, there had begun to be reports of a growing rift between Gabbard and Trump over his decision to strike Iran. She had also held back from supporting the Iran war in March.
In written remarks to the Senate Intelligence Committee later, Gabbard said Iran has not taken any new steps to rebuild its nuclear capacity after its program was “obliterated” in US strikes last June. Her comments ran counter to Trump, who has repeatedly claimed that .
Gabbard’s resignation comes just days after Trump ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in March amid growing criticism of her leadership of the department, including the handling of the administration’s immigration crackdown and disaster response.
The Justice Department's handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein also led to the firing of Attorney General Pam Bondi along with Noem.
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