Washington: Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has resigned, citing her husband’s health battle, becoming the fourth member of the president’s cabinet to depart this year – all of whom were women.
Meanwhile, amid uncertainty about the next steps in the war with Iran, Trump announced he would not attend his son’s wedding this weekend, and cancelled a planned trip to his New Jersey golf club to return to the White House.
Gabbard, a cabinet level official who was responsible for the US intelligence community including the CIA and National Security Agency, announced her resignation on social media on Friday (US time) and revealed her husband had been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer.
“He faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months,” she said. “At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle.”
Gabbard is a former military officer and Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, who also served as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. But she took more conservative positions after leaving office and joined the Republican Party in 2024.
Known for anti-interventionist foreign policy stances and sometimes echoing Kremlin talking points, Gabbard ended up on the wrong side of Trump on Iran after telling Congress last year that Iran was not building nuclear weapons. Trump said at the time: “I don’t care what she said, I think they were very close to having one.”
A source familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency that Gabbard had been forced out by the White House. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from this masthead.
But Trump posted on social media that Gabbard was “unfortunately” leaving the post because of her husband’s diagnosis. “Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her,” he said.
Gabbard is the fourth person to exit Trump’s cabinet this year, after former attorney-general Pam Bondi, former homeland security secretary Kristi Noem and former labour secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer. All are women.
The development came on a busy Friday in Washington where Trump presided over the swearing-in of the new chairman of the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, and then flew to Suffern in New York state to help a Republican congressman on the campaign trail.
Trump confirmed he would not attend his son Donald Trump Jr’s wedding in the Bahamas this weekend, after saying earlier that the timing was bad amid the war in Iran.
He also changed his public schedule on Friday. Instead of travelling to his private golf club in New Jersey for the Memorial Day long weekend, he will return to the White House.
“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“I feel it is important for me to remain in Washington DC at the White House during this important period of time. Congratulations to Don and Bettina!”
The events sparked immediate speculation about a possible renewal of military action against Iran amid the stalemate over a deal.
Roger Wicker, the Republican chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, urged Trump to resume strikes.
“We are at a moment that will define President Trump’s legacy,” he said on X. “His instincts have been to finish the job he started in Iran, but he is being ill-advised to pursue a deal that would not be worth the paper it is written on.
“Our commander-in-chief needs to allow America’s skilled armed forces to finish the destruction of Iran’s conventional military capabilities and reopen the strait. Further pursuit of an agreement with Iran’s Islamist regime risks a perception of weakness. We must finish what we started. It is past time for action.”
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.
