Tulsi Gabbard Resigns as Donald Trump’s US Intelligence Chief

Tulsi Gabbard has resigned from her position as the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, as President Donald Trump weighs whether to resume strikes on Iran in a war that has reverberated across the Middle East.

A longtime critic of US interventions in overseas conflicts, Gabbard had been a controversial pick to lead the nation’s spy agencies and an increasingly uncomfortable fit in an administration that has forced regime change in Venezuela and launched a war in Iran.

She announced her resignation in a letter posted on social media on Friday, saying that her husband had been diagnosed with an “extremely rare form of bone cancer” and she was leaving public office to “fully support him through this battle”.

Gabbard’s resignation comes as Pakistani and Qatari mediators made a fresh push on Friday to broker a deal between Washington and Tehran amid concerns that Trump could resume strikes on Iran within days.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier on Friday said “some progress” had been made in the latest effort to build on a fragile ceasefire that began in April, but insisted the president retained “other options” if talks failed.

Trump had said on Tuesday that he had been “an hour away” from making a decision to resume strikes on Iran before being persuaded by Gulf allies to pause his plan.

Gabbard is the latest in a number of high-profile departures from Trump’s cabinet. The president fired Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem in March, while Pam Bondi left her role as attorney general in April.

Source: Financial Times