United States

US 007 chief Tulsi Gabbard resigned. Media: forced by the White House

The resignation was given, officially, to support her husband in his battle against an 'extremely rare form of bone cancer'

22 May 2026

Tulsi Gabbard, direttrice della National Intelligence americana ora dimissionaria. EPA/WILL OLIVER EPA

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Director of US National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard resigns. Gabbard is resigning, officially, to support her husband in his battle against an 'extremely rare form of bone cancer'.

Gabbard has already notified Donald Trump and her last day on the job will be 30 June. Gabbard says she is "deeply grateful for the trust placed in me and the opportunity to lead the Office of National Intelligence for the past year and a half." "Unfortunately, I must resign, effective 30 June. My husband Abraham has been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer," she wrote in her resignation letter.

Trump: we will miss him, his interim post to Aaron Lukas

"Sadly, after doing an excellent job, Tulsi Gabbard will be leaving the Administration on 30 June. Her wonderful husband, Abraham, was recently diagnosed with a rare type of bone cancer and she rightly wishes to be by his side and help him recover as they face this tough battle together. I have no doubt that he will soon be better than before. Tulsi has done an incredible job and will be missed. Her highly respected Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Aaron Lukas, will serve as Acting Director of National Intelligence,' Trump wrote on Truth.

But the media: forced to resign from the White House

Tulsi Gabbard was forced to resign as head of National Intelligence by the White House. Reuters reports this, citing sources. Sceptical about American involvement in wars abroad, Gabbard was excluded from planning the capture of Nicolas Maduro. In recent weeks her closest advisor Joe Kent resigned by posting a letter criticising Israel for misleading Donald Trump into believing that the Tehran regime was an imminent threat.

The clashes with the president

Opposed to American involvement in wars overseas, Gabbard has been 'excluded' from decisions on the capture of Nicola Maduro and key meetings on the Iran war. In past years, the former Democratic presidential candidate in 2020 had never hidden her contrary to the Iran war, although she was actually forced to publicly defend it in order not to contradict the commander-in-chief.

His first confrontation with Trump came after his confirmation on the wire and was always about Iran. In testimony in June 2025, before the 'Midnight Hammer' attack, Gabbard claimed that Tehran was not building the nuclear bomb. Trump, furious, publicly denied it the next day, declaring that he was wrong and that Tehran was 'very close' to the atomic weapon. The backlash was seen as the first sign of a deep rift between the US president and the intelligence community.

In the months that followed, however, Gabbard was able to reconnect thanks to her surprise participation in the counter-investigation into alleged electoral fraud in Georgia. The intelligence chief had in fact participated in the search of an election centre in the state. A move that allowed her to get back into the good graces of the president who, however, had continued not to include her in national security meetings.

Thus - according to rumours reported by Reuters - Gabbard was forced to resign as head of the 007. His name had long been among those most in the balance after the exits of Pam Bondi from Justice and Kristi Noem from National Security. His role had been faltering since shortly after the start of the Iran war, when his closest advisor resigned. In a letter made public, Joe Kent had explained that his stepping down was due to the conflict: 'Iran posed no imminent threat to our country and it is clear that this war,' he had observed, 'was started for the pressure of Israel and its powerful American lobby'.