Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, the highest-ranking intelligence official in the U.S. government, has resigned. She said her husband is suffering from a rare bone cancer that requires her full attention. Nick Schifrin and Liz Landers report, and William Brangham discusses more with Larry Pfeiffer.Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.
William Brangham:
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, the highest-ranking intelligence official in the U.S. government, resigned today. She said her husband is suffering from a rare bone cancer that requires her full attention.Foreign and defense correspondent Nick Schifrin and White House correspondent Liz Landers are both covering the story, and they join us now.Nick, what did Gabbard say in her announcement, resignation announcement, today?
Nick Schifrin:
Well, as you said, William, Gabbard said that she's leaving because of her husband's illness.And she released this resignation letter, which reads in part: "My husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer. I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle."In response, President Trump wrote that -- quote -- "Tulsi's done an incredible job, and we will miss her." And the president announced that her principal deputy, Aaron Lukas, would become the acting director of national intelligence.And so the president using kind words there, William. And Tulsi Gabbard has executed some of his key intelligence community priorities. A Gabbard aide sent me a list of her accomplishments, listing -- quote -- cutting what Gabbard called -- quote -- "agency bloat" by more than 40 percent, declassified, including high-profile cases like the JFK assassination, and exposing what the president calls the weaponization of the intelligence community.But former intelligence and Trump officials tell me that Gabbard was largely cut out, she was frozen out of the policymaking process, and that, frankly, CIA Director John Ratcliffe has already been running the intelligence community.
