Tulsi Gabbard steps down as national intelligence director
Tulsi Gabbard has now shared a statement on X, confirming that she is resigning from her post as national intelligence director, citing her husband’s illness.
In a resignation letter first reported by Fox News, Gabbard tells the president she is “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.”
“Unfortunately, I must submit my resignation, effective June 30, 2026. My husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer.”
Her husband “faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months”, she wrote. “At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle.”
Key events
Trump announces Aaron Lukas as acting director of national intelligence
In a post on Truth Social, the president announced Aaron Lukas, the principal deputy director of national intelligence, as the acting director of national intelligence to replace Tulsi Gabbard, whose resignation will come into effect on 30 June.
Trump regretted Gabbard’s departure and wished good health to her husband, who is battling a rare form of bone cancer. He said:
Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her. Her highly respected Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Aaron Lukas, will serve as Acting Director of National Intelligence.
Tulsi Gabbard’s resignation as director of national security has prompted some lawmakers to send in messages of solidarity.
“I thank Tulsi Gabbard for her service in this administration and in uniform, and I wish her the very best as she supports her husband Abe in his battle with cancer,” wrote Senator Tom Cotton on X. “Please join me in sending them prayers for a full and fast recovery.”
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley expressed regret at her departure, in a post on X:
I’m sorry 2see Tulsi Gabbard leave Pres Trump’s cabinet but she’s putting family 1st She did a lot of good work IMPORTANTLY Gabbard was most helpful 2me in document production/declassification for impt oversight+ TRANSPARENCY for the American ppl & pushing back on the DEEP STATE
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has confirmed that he will not be attending his son’s wedding in The Bahamas this weekend.
He wrote on Truth Social moments ago:
While I very much wanted to be with my son, Don Jr., and the newest member of the Trump Family, his soon to be wife, Bettina, circumstances pertaining to Government, and my love for the United States of America, do not allow me to do so. I feel it is important for me to remain in Washington, D.C., at the White House during this important period of time. Congratulations to Don and Bettina!
Asked by a reporter in the Oval Office yesterday whether he would be attending, Trump had said: “That’s one I can’t win on.”
“He’d like me to go,” he said of his son, “but it’s going to be just a small little private affair, and I’m going to try and make it.”
“You know, this is not good timing for me. I have a thing called Iran and other things,” the president added.
It comes as Trump has threatened in recent weeks carrying out fresh strikes on Iran if mediators don’t reach a deal in which Tehran’s commits to not revisiting its nuclear program.
This development will no doubt fuel speculation that Trump is close to a decision on that.
Tulsi Gabbard steps down as national intelligence director
Tulsi Gabbard has now shared a statement on X, confirming that she is resigning from her post as national intelligence director, citing her husband’s illness.
In a resignation letter first reported by Fox News, Gabbard tells the president she is “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.”
“Unfortunately, I must submit my resignation, effective June 30, 2026. My husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer.”
Her husband “faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months”, she wrote. “At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle.”
The Wall Street Journal is also reporting that Tulsi Gabbard is preparing to step down as director of national intelligence, citing people familiar with the matter.
Gabbard has told associates she is leaving because her husband has been diagnosed with a serious form of cancer, the people told the paper.
Per the WSJ, it caps “a tumultuous tenure in which she was largely sidelined from President Trump’s national-security operations, including in Venezuela and Iran”.
Indeed, her expected departure comes as Trump mulls renewing his military operation in Iran (more on that in my next post) as talks with Tehran have stalled.
Gabbard has fallen in and out of favor with the president, and the Journal previously reported that she wasn’t a major part of conversations about the war on Iran before Trump started it with Israel in February.
She often diverged from administration talking points about the war, saying the US and Israel had differing objectives and that Tehran had made no efforts to rebuild its nuclear program since US-Israeli attacks on three nuclear sites in June last year.
And further to that, we’re now seeing a line come in from the Reuters news agency that the White House forced Tulsi Gabbard to resign.
I’ll bring you more on this as we get it.
Further to that last post, the report comes a month after my colleague Hugo Lowell reported that Trump had privately asked cabinet members in recent weeks whether he should replace Gabbard, venting frustration that she shielded a former deputy who undercut his rationale for war with Iran.
Trump’s discussions had marked an ominous development for Gabbard, given the president tends to poll his advisers when he starts to seriously consider whether a personnel change is necessary.
Trump’s doubts about Gabbard followed her testimony at the worldwide threats hearing on Capitol Hill where she declined to condemn Joe Kent, who had resigned days earlier after arguing that Iran did not pose an imminent threat to the United States, Hugo reported.
Gabbard resigns as Trump’s national intelligence director, Fox News reports
Tulsi Gabbard is resigning from her role as Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence.
In a resignation letter first reported by Fox News, Gabbard tells the president she is “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.”
“Unfortunately, I must submit my resignation, effective June 30, 2026. My husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer.”
Her husband “faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months”, she wrote. “At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle.”
A Democratic House candidate in Texas is facing bipartisan condemnation and accusations of antisemitism after she said she wanted to turn an immigration detention facility into a “prison for American Zionists” if elected – leaving Democrats scrambling to ostracize her from the party and alleging that conservative groups may be propping up her campaign.
Maureen Galindo is running against Johnny Garcia in next week’s Democratic primary for Texas’s 35th congressional district, which covers parts of San Antonio and portions of the surrounding counties. The district was once solid blue and is currently represented by a Democrat, but the race remains highly competitive after being made much more favorable to the GOP following Texas Republicans’ mid-decade redistricting efforts last summer.
Last week Galindo wrote on Instagram that if elected to Congress, she would write a bill to declare that Zionism is antisemitic, and would “turn Karnes ICE Detention Center into a prison for American Zionists and former ICE officers for human trafficking. (It will also be a castration processing center for pedophiles which will probably be most of the Zionists)”.
The next day, Galindo told a local radio station that she is not antisemitic, but opposed to “Zionist Jews”. She also said Garcia and others supported by pro-Israel groups should be “tried for treason”.
Democrats allege that a mysterious political action committee (Pac), Lead Left Pac, which was founded less than a month ago and has spent more than $900,000 promoting Galindo, is a GOP attempt to ensure that their candidate in the district faces a weak opponent in November.
The group, which is the biggest single spender in the Democratic primary runoff and has yet to reveal its donors, has put more than $600,000 toward ads, according to tracking firm AdImpact. Federal campaign finance filings show it is also spending on mail.
Links to the GOP fundraising website WinRed were removed from its website’s metadata after Punchbowl News reported on it several weeks ago. The group also ran ads in Democratic primaries in Pennsylvania and Nebraska earlier this month.
Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, and Suzan DelBene, a representative who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement that Galindo’s comments were “extremely dangerous” and “vile,” and have “no place in Democratic politics”.
“To embrace and uplift a fringe candidate with antisemitic – and extremely dangerous – rhetoric and views in order to win an election is beyond the pale,” they added. “House Republican leadership must immediately cease propping up this antisemitic candidacy, pull spending in the race and forcefully condemn these comments.”
More on this story here:
Trump’s pick for surgeon general sells supplement with ingredient banned by Pentagon
Michelle R Smith
Donald Trump’s nominee for surgeon general sells an herbal supplement that contains an ingredient prohibited by the US military and which health experts have warned can cause liver damage.
Dr Nicole Saphier’s record of selling dietary supplements, which are only loosely regulated in the US, has raised concern among doctors and consumer advocates, some of whom allege she sells “snake oil”.
Amazon said it had opened an investigation into the products after the Guardian inquired whether they were in compliance with the company’s policies on supplement sales.
“Nobody who prides themselves as rigorous about science is in the supplement business,” said Dr Peter Lurie of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a food and health watchdog organization. Lurie has been an outspoken critic of what he called wellness industry “grifters” inside health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s Make America Healthy Again (Maha) movement, who he said sold consumers poorly regulated supplements with unsupported claims.
The surgeon general is considered America’s doctor, responsible for communicating the best scientific information to Americans about how to improve their health. Previous surgeons general have issued influential warnings on tobacco use and educated the public about Aids.
Saphier specializes in breast cancer as a radiologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New Jersey and is a former contributor to Fox News. She is Trump’s third pick for the job after his first two failed to advance in the Senate.
Saphier and her company, Drop RX, did not respond to several emails seeking comment.
“Dr Nicole Saphier is an accomplished physician who has practiced radiology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering and has been an outspoken voice on breast cancer prevention, intrusive COVID-19 mandates, the politicization of science, and the federal government’s role in America’s chronic disease epidemic,” the White House spokesperson Kush Desai wrote in an email. “She will be a powerful asset for President Trump and work tirelessly to deliver on every facet of his Maha agenda.”
As Warsh’s swearing-in ceremony came to a close, he met government leaders and officials in the audience, before exiting the room.
“My goal now is to create an environment in which the best people can do their life’s best work and to face every challenge in the spirit of common purpose and motion to the national interest, in a word, to excellence,” said Warsh towards the end of his speech.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/may/22/donald-trump-ai-china-iran-war-powers-hormuz-latest-news-updates
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