Ammon News - 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.
Trump said on his Truth Social platform that Principal Deputy Director of ​National Intelligence Aaron Lukas would become acting director. Lukas is a former CIA officer and analyst who served on the National Security Council during Trump's first term.

Trump said Gabbard had done "a great ​job" but with 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."

A source familiar with the matter said that Gabbard had been forced out by the White House. The White House did not respond to a request for comment, but Davis Ingle, a White ​House spokesperson, said on X that Gabbard was departing in light of her husband's diagnosis.

Trump has hinted in the past at differences with Gabbard on their approach to Iran, saying in March that she was "softer" ​than him on curbing Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

In April, several sources told Reuters that Gabbard could lose her role in a broader cabinet shakeup.

A senior White House official said then that Trump had expressed displeasure with Gabbard in recent months. Another source with direct knowledge of the matter said the president had asked allies for their thoughts on potential replacements for his intelligence chief.


Reuters