Trump Names Gabbard’s Replacement After She Resigns As DNI
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is stepping down from the Trump administration at the end of June, with President Donald Trump announcing Friday that her replacement will be named shortly afterward.
Trump said Gabbard is leaving to focus on her family after her husband was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer.
“Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
The president announced that Aaron Lukas, the principal deputy director of national intelligence, will serve as acting director once Gabbard officially departs.
Gabbard confirmed her resignation in a letter posted to X, saying her final day will be June 30.
In the letter, she thanked Trump for the opportunity to serve in his administration and said her decision was driven by her husband’s medical battle.
“Dear Mr. President, I am 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 said in her post.
“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. He faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months. At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle,” Gabbard said.
After speaking glowingly about her husband, she signed off with thanks to President Trump.
“Thank you for your understanding during this deeply personal and difficult time for our family. I will remain forever grateful to you and to the American people for the profound honor of serving our nation as DNI,” she said.
The departure marks a major change inside the administration’s intelligence leadership.
According to Fox News Digital, Gabbard informed Trump of her decision during a Friday Oval Office meeting.
However, the circumstances surrounding her exit appear to be more complicated.
A source familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital that Gabbard was forced out by the White House, though Trump’s public comments framed the departure as entirely family-related.
Trump publicly praised Gabbard again Friday while emphasizing the seriousness of her husband’s condition.
The president’s announcement comes after occasional signs of tension between the two over foreign policy.
Earlier this year, Trump publicly suggested Gabbard was less aggressive than he was when it came to confronting Iran over its nuclear ambitions.
In March, Trump said Gabbard was “softer” than him on stopping Tehran’s nuclear program.
Despite those differences, Trump’s public messaging Friday was warm and supportive.
Aaron Lukas now steps into one of the most sensitive national security roles in Washington, at least on an interim basis.
As principal deputy director, Lukas has already been working inside the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, making him a natural temporary successor while the administration determines its long-term plans.
Gabbard’s exit removes one of the administration’s most high-profile and unconventional national security figures.
A former Democratic congresswoman turned Trump administration intelligence chief, Gabbard’s appointment drew intense scrutiny from critics but strong support from many Trump allies.
Her tenure included oversight of intelligence coordination during a period of escalating international tensions involving Iran, China, Russia, and the Middle East, The New York Times reported.
Now, her focus shifts entirely to family.
No additional details about her husband’s diagnosis or treatment were immediately released.
The White House has not indicated whether Trump intends to nominate a permanent replacement quickly or allow Lukas to serve in the acting role for an extended period.
For now, the administration is presenting the move as a deeply personal decision driven by a family medical emergency, even as outside reporting raises questions about whether internal dynamics also played a role.
Trump ‘Briefed With Options’ Amid Stalled Iran Talks
The Trump administration on Wednesday continued to express optimism about negotiations with Iran, even as Iranian officials insist that no direct talks have taken place, according to reports.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister said no face-to-face meeting had occurred in Doha and that no direct negotiations with the United States were currently planned.
Despite Tehran’s position, President Donald Trump described the discussions as “very good,” apparently referring to indirect contacts involving U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner communicating through third-party intermediaries.
Vice President JD Vance struck a firmer tone the same day, warning that the United States could escalate its response if Iran refuses to cooperate or takes actions that further destabilize the Middle East.
His remarks underscored the administration’s message that while it remains open to a diplomatic resolution, additional measures remain on the table if negotiations fail.
“If Iran attempts to rebuild its nuclear program, threaten its neighbors and support terrorism, President Trump has options to deal with it,” Vance noted, without elaborating.
Earlier, a Wall Street Journal report claimed that Trump had been briefed on several military options, including “all-out war,” but Trump said he wanted to give diplomacy more time.
Vance additionally stated that the US “dropped bombs on Iran because it fired on ships, and we used leverage to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.”
He went on to suggest that the U.S. could take that course of action again.
Vance also said the current talks are “to discuss the details and flow of maritime traffic.”
The vice president, addressing U.S. military personnel at a naval base in Virginia on Wednesday, also said that Iran’s nuclear program has been set back decades.
“If you look at what our own intelligence says about their nuclear program, they are further away from developing a nuclear bomb than they have ever been since basically the last 20 or 30 years,” Vance said, though he stopped short of Trump’s claim that the program had been “totally obliterated.”
“What the president asks you to accomplish is to destroy the defense industrial base of that country, so that if they ever decided to rebuild their military, or if they ever decided to rebuild that nuclear program, they would be harmless to do it. You did that exactly as well,” Vance added, per the Times of Israel.
The VP went on to say that Trump is now “negotiating from a position of strength because of you.”
“If the Iranians try to rebuild the nuclear program, the President’s got options. If the Iranians try to threaten their neighbors or fund terrorism, we’ve got options,” Vance continued.
“But what we must never do is drop bombs just for the sake of dropping bombs. And that is what the president will never ask you to do,” Vance added.
“He’ll ask you to go to war, yes. But when he asks you to go to war, he’ll tell you exactly what you’re going for,” the veep noted further.
“And I think that is what you should expect out of your political leadership.”
“What I noticed about the people who are attacking the administration for negotiating is that they are the very same people who, for example, encouraged us to just go a little bit further and just drop a few more bombs in places like Afghanistan,” he said.
“If you go back to the mistakes that were made, those very same people refused to say what we were dropping bombs for,” he added.
“We dropped some bombs a couple of days ago… Because the Iranians were shooting at commercial ships… We applied some leverage, and we’ve had free commercial transit for the last three days,” Vance told the naval personnel.
