Tulsi Gabbard became the latest member to exit Donald Trump’s cabinet after resigning from her role as Director of National Intelligence on Friday. According to Fox News, Gabbard stepped down to support her husband as he battles “an extremely rare form of bone cancer.”
In her formal resignation letter, Gabbard mentioned, “Abraham has been my rock throughout our eleven years of marriage — standing steadfast through my deployment to East Africa on a Joint Special Operations mission, multiple political campaigns and now my service in this role.”
Gabbard said her husband is expected to face “major challenges” in the weeks and months ahead. “At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle,” her letter read.
She added that her husband’s love and support had helped her through difficult moments, and that she could not continue in such a demanding role while he faced the battle ahead on his own.
Gabbard expressed gratitude to Donald Trump
Gabbard, who served as the eighth director of national intelligence since 2025, informed Donald Trump of her decision during a meeting in the Oval Office on Friday, and her final day leading the ODNI is reportedly set for June 30.
Also read: ‘Did a great job’: Trump responds to Tulsi Gabbard’s resignation, names Aaron Lukas as acting DNI
She also thanked the president for the trust and confidence he placed in her during her tenure.
“I will remain forever grateful to you and to the American people for the profound honor of serving our nation as DNI,” the 45-year-old said in the letter.
Tulsi Gabbard’s Key Contributions During Her Time as DNI
As Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard launched a major effort to restructure the Intelligence Community by downsizing operations, cutting costs by more than $700 million annually, and eliminating DEI initiatives within the agencies.
By this month, Gabbard had also overseen the declassification of more than 500,000 pages of government documents, including files connected to the Trump-Russia investigation and the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy.
Also read: Does Tulsi Gabbard have children? Inside her family as husband Abraham Williams is diagnosed with bone cancer
She also oversaw efforts by the National Counterterrorism Center that reportedly blocked more than 10,000 individuals linked to narco-terrorism from entering the United States in 2025 and added over 85,000 others to the terror watchlist.
She publicly announced her resignation through X on Friday afternoon, writing, “It has been a profound honor to serve the American people as DNI.”
However, the outgoing DNI has assured that she will remain focused on managing a smooth transition in the coming weeks so there is no disruption to leadership or ongoing operations.
