U.S. intelligence shake-up: Tulsi Gabbard reportedly quits as Trump’s intelligence chief, raising fresh questions in Washington

Rashmi Pandey — Fri, 22 May 2026 17:37:23 +0000

Tulsi Gabbard is reportedly resigning as President Donald Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, with Fox News Digital reporting that she informed Trump of the decision during an Oval Office meeting on Friday. According to the report, her resignation will take effect on June 30, 2026, and is tied to her husband Abraham Williams’ diagnosis with an “extremely rare form of bone cancer”.

In a resignation letter cited by Fox News Digital, Gabbard said she was “deeply grateful” for the opportunity to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence over the past year and a half. She wrote that her husband has “major challenges in the coming weeks and months” and that she must step away from public service “to be by his side” during treatment. The report said Gabbard described Williams as her “rock” through her military service, political campaigns and time in office.

Fox News Digital reported that Gabbard pledged to ensure a smooth transition and said she remained proud of her work at ODNI, including efforts to increase transparency and restructure parts of the intelligence community. The report also said she oversaw declassification efforts involving records related to the Trump-Russia investigation and the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. She also launched counterterrorism initiatives and sought to reduce the size of the intelligence bureaucracy, according to the same report.

Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii who later aligned with Trump, was confirmed as DNI in February 2025. As of May 22, 2026, the reported resignation has been covered by multiple outlets, but the core details trace back to the Fox News Digital report cited by those outlets.

intelligence community | Business Upturn

U.S. intelligence shake-up: Tulsi Gabbard reportedly quits as Trump’s intelligence chief, raising fresh questions in Washington