Tulsi Gabbard, the nation’s chief intelligence official, is the latest woman to leave President Donald Trump’s Cabinet.
Gabbard is resigning to care for her husband, Abraham, who has been diagnosed with “an extremely rare form of bone cancer” and “faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months,” she said in her resignation letter, which was first reported by Fox News.
“At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle,” she wrote.
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“I have no doubt he will soon be better than ever. Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Her resignation as director of national intelligence is effective June 30. Trump said a deputy, Aaron Lukas, would take over as the nation’s intelligence chief.
Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii who switched parties and became part of the MAGA coalition, was confirmed last year as the nation’s chief intelligence official. She is the only Pacific Islander member of Trump’s Cabinet.
Gabbard, a military veteran who was staunchly anti-war during her time in Congress and vocally opposed Trump’s military actions in Iran during his first term, faced intense scrutiny in recent appearances on Capitol Hill over the administration’s current war in Iran. The Guardian reported that Trump was asking advisers whether he should replace Gabbard after she declined to denounce a deputy, Joe Kent, who resigned over his disagreements over the U.S. war with Iran. Gabbard also sparked concern for being present at an unprecedented FBI seizure of 2020 election ballots in Fulton County, Georgia, which took place five years after Trump’s unsuccessful efforts to overturn his election loss in the state.
Gabbard is the fourth woman to leave Trump’s Cabinet in the past three months, following Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.
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The women remaining in Trump’s Cabinet are Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins; Education Secretary Linda McMahon; and Kelly Loeffler, head of the Small Business Administration.
FBI Director Kash Patel and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have both also drawn criticism and speculation that their jobs were on the line.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
