2026-05-23T11:00:08.336Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/23/politics/tulsi-gabbard-sidelined-deep-state-trump-grievances
- 图尔西·加巴德在多次被排除在唐纳德·特朗普总统的重大军事决策之外后，辞去了国家情报总监职务。
- 她的不干涉主义立场与针对伊朗和委内瑞拉的军事打击产生冲突，导致她被排除在关键的国家安全审议之外。
- 相反，她将精力放在追随特朗普的不满情绪上，解密文件，并出现在佐治亚州的联邦调查局选票扣押现场。
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唐纳德·特朗普总统任命图尔西·加巴德为其最高情报官员，原因是她的不干涉主义和“美国优先”理念，这一理念曾促使她脱离民主党，加入“让美国再次伟大”阵营。
但作为特朗普的国家情报总监，加巴德的孤立主义倾向很快让她与特朗普在伊朗和委内瑞拉的军事行动产生分歧。在周五宣布辞职的数月前，加巴德以丈夫被诊断出患有罕见骨癌为由辞职，而在此期间，她经常被排除在特朗普第二任期内政府的一些重大外交政策决策之外。
当特朗普的国家安全团队在新年当天在海湖庄园聚集，观看美国在委内瑞拉的行动时，加巴德却在数千英里外的家乡夏威夷的海滩上，在社交媒体上发布照片。
在特朗普去年夏天决定打击伊朗核设施之前，加巴德发布了一段视频，警告世界“比以往任何时候都更接近核毁灭的边缘”，这激怒了特朗普和白宫，也让她被边缘化。
今年2月，特朗普与以色列联合对伊朗发动打击时，加巴德正在华盛顿与副总统JD·万斯及其他内阁成员在一起。而特朗普则在海湖庄园与包括中央情报局局长约翰·拉特克利夫、国防部长皮特·赫格斯瑟和参谋长联席会议主席丹·凯恩在内的顶级国家安全官员在一起。
据一位知情人士告诉CNN，在打击行动前，特朗普与加巴德就其可能在伊朗采取的军事行动进行了交谈，并询问有关她因此辞职的传闻是否属实——如果他决定采取行动，她是否会离职。该知情人士称，加巴德表示传闻不实，即使他采取军事行动，她也不会辞职。
尽管加巴德在国际审议中被边缘化，但她与特朗普一样对所谓的“深层政府”抱有怀疑。铲除情报界中被认为反对特朗普利益的人，成为她担任国家情报总监期间的主要工作重点。
“任何他们认为越过特朗普的人，都会遭到毁灭性打击，”一位知情人士告诉CNN。
该知情人士称，加巴德很快就连在自己的办公室内部都变得孤立，她只和一小圈顾问待在一起，并且——在许多人看来这是偏执的表现——反对让中央情报局官员担任她的安保人员，因为她不信任该机构。
另一位消息人士反驳了这一说法，称加巴德仅因能力不足和缺乏专业素养，解除了一名安保人员的职务。
“她非常感谢自己的安保团队，并将生命托付给他们，”国家情报总监办公室的一位发言人告诉CNN。
据多位消息人士透露，加巴德与中央情报局局长拉特克利夫的关系一直紧张。加巴德认为，拉特克利夫有时会绕过她直接向总统汇报，尽管传统上各情报机构应密切合作。这促使加巴德开始直接就各种问题与总统沟通，一位消息人士推测，这可能保住了她的职位。
周五，加巴德在椭圆形办公室会见特朗普，递交了辞职信。周五，一位与加巴德关系密切的消息人士告诉CNN，尽管她在国家情报总监任上经历了动荡，但她能在这个职位上待这么久的一个关键原因，仅仅是总统仍然个人喜欢她。
另一位与加巴德关系密切的消息人士称，自大约三周前丈夫被诊断出癌症以来，她就一直在纠结辞职的决定。
加巴德宣布离职后，特朗普周五在社交媒体上称赞了她，称她做得“非常出色”——这条推文并未提及他此前与这位情报负责人在伊朗和委内瑞拉问题上的冲突。
但尽管加巴德与特朗普找到了一些共同点，在她的任期内，她似乎基本上一直是局外人。
“她根本就与本届政府不合拍，”前国家情报副局长贝丝·桑纳周五在CNN的《头条新闻》节目中表示。
“这就是为什么她的缩写DNI变成了‘请勿邀请’，”桑纳补充道。“在本届政府中，图尔西所处的位置让我认为，她完全不适合这个职位，最终变得毫无作为。然后她就转向了其他工作。”
加巴德在这个职位上的18个月任期将于下月结束，这一任期既体现在她对特朗普军事行动的参与度极低，也体现在她愿意追随特朗普的一些重大不满情绪。
她解密了情报界关于2016年俄罗斯干预选举的评估文件，以声称巴拉克·奥巴马总统是针对特朗普“叛国阴谋”的幕后黑手。她带走了波多黎各的投票机，试图证明毫无根据的选举舞弊指控。今年1月，加巴德出现在佐治亚州富尔顿县的现场，当时联邦调查局特工扣押了2020年选举的选票，这引发了严重疑问：特朗普为何要让其最高间谍负责人在场——毕竟国家情报总监被禁止参与国内执法行动。
一些特朗普官员将加巴德决定在选举相关调查中扮演突出角色，描述为她在伊朗和委内瑞拉等更紧迫问题上被边缘化的表现。
一位知情人士表示，这两者并无关联——他指出，特朗普直接致电加巴德，要求她监督与选举相关的调查，因为他知道她已经在代表他调查2020年大选的情况。
加巴德担任国家情报总监一直是一个非常规的选择。该职位是在9/11事件后设立的，旨在促进构成美国情报界的18个机构之间的信息共享和协调。作为夏威夷州的国会议员，加巴德曾以民主党人身份参加2020年总统竞选，此前她曾对泄露机密信息的举报人表示同情，并批评特朗普在第一任期内针对伊朗的军事行动。
但在拜登政府期间与民主党人决裂后——包括加巴德反对美国向乌克兰对抗俄罗斯提供援助——加巴德成为共和党人，并在2024年支持特朗普。
然而，加巴德的反战观点很快就与特朗普产生冲突。2025年3月，她在国会作证称，伊朗并未积极研发核武器——这与美国和以色列官员称伊朗正在迅速努力获取核弹的说法直接矛盾。
“她错了，”2025年6月，特朗普在谈到加巴德时说道，几天后他就对伊朗的核设施发动了导弹打击。
CNN当时报道称，特朗普认为加巴德“偏离了路线”，这源于她发布的视频警告核扩散的危险，并指责“政治精英和战争贩子”煽动“核大国之间的恐惧和紧张关系”。
今年2月美伊联合打击伊朗后，加巴德再次陷入尴尬境地，在国会作证时被问及此次打击的依据。
“情报界的职责不是确定什么是迫在眉睫的威胁，什么不是，”加巴德在3月参众两院情报委员会的作证中说道。
如果说加巴德在军事干预问题上与特朗普意见不合，那么去年她很快就转向了特朗普完全支持的议题。
去年7月，加巴德解密并发布了一系列文件，她声称这些文件证明奥巴马政府在2017年的情报评估中“捏造”了不利于特朗普的证据，该评估称俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京干预了2016年选举，并试图帮助特朗普。
然而，加巴德关于情报被捏造的许多说法都站不住脚。2020年共和党主导的参议院报告同意情报界关于俄罗斯干预选举以及普京指导相关行动的结论。
去年8月，加巴德撤销了至少37名现任和前任国家安全官员的安全许可，名单中包括参与俄罗斯问题评估的人员以及乔·拜登总统国家安全委员会的成员。
今年1月，加巴德采取了非同寻常的举措，在联邦调查局特工对亚特兰大附近的富尔顿县选举办公室执行搜查令后，亲自前往现场。
考虑到加巴德的职权范围通常涉及协调美国情报机构及其海外行动，而非国内事务或执法工作，她的出现引发了关注。
CNN当时报道称，在现场期间，加巴德让特朗普与参与搜查选举办公室的一些联邦调查局特工通了电话。
她在写给参众两院情报委员会高级民主党议员的一封信中表示，她在搜查期间在场“是应总统的要求”。
几位前高级情报官员和选举法专家告诉CNN，加巴德对联邦调查局的搜查没有法律管辖权，她出现在富尔顿县，有可能破坏水门事件后确立的外国和国内情报活动之间的关键界限。
在特朗普政府对加巴德在场的原因给出相互矛盾的解释后，白宫新闻秘书卡罗琳·利夫特表示，特朗普“指派”加巴德“监督美国选举的神圣性和安全性”，并且她“正在与联邦调查局局长直接合作”。
Sidelined on Iran and Venezuela, Gabbard instead pursued Trump’s Deep State grievances amid her own suspicions
2026-05-23T11:00:08.336Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/23/politics/tulsi-gabbard-sidelined-deep-state-trump-grievances
- Tulsi Gabbard resigned as director of national intelligence after being repeatedly sidelined from President Donald Trump’s major military decisions.
- Her non-interventionist views clashed with strikes on Iran and Venezuela, leaving her isolated from key national security deliberations.
- Instead she focused on pursuing Trump’s grievances, declassifying documents and appearing at an FBI ballot seizure in Georgia.
AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.
President Donald Trump selected Tulsi Gabbard as his top intelligence official thanks to her non-interventionist, “America First” ideology that had pushed her away from the Democratic Party and into the MAGA fold.
But as Trump’s director of national intelligence, Gabbard’s isolationist tendencies quickly put her at odds with his military actions in Iran and Venezuela. Months before announcing her resignation Friday, citing her husband’s diagnosis of a rare form of bone cancer, Gabbard was routinely sidelined from some of the administration’s biggest foreign policy decisions of Trump’s second term.
When Trump’s national security team gathered at Mar-a-Lago on New Year’s Day to watch the US operation in Venezuela unfold, Gabbard was thousands of miles away posting pictures on social media from a beach in her home state of Hawaii.
Ahead of Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear sites last summer, Gabbard posted a video warning that the world is “closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before,” which angered Trump and the White House and put her on the sidelines.
And in February, when Trump launched joint strikes on Iran with Israel, Gabbard was in Washington with Vice President JD Vance and other cabinet members. Trump was in Mar-a-Lago with top national security officials, including CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine.
Before the strikes, Trump and Gabbard had a conversation about his potential military action in Iran, and he asked if the rumors about her resigning over it were true — whether she would leave if he decided to go forward, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. She said that the rumors were not true and she would not resign if he took military action, the source said.
While Gabbard was sidelined when it came to international deliberations, she shared Trump’s suspicions of the so-called “deep state.” Rooting out those perceived as being against Trump’s interests in the intelligence community became a main focus of her time as DNI.
“It’s scorched earth for anyone who they feel crossed Trump,” a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
Gabbard quickly became isolated inside even her own office, the source said, surrounding herself with a small circle of advisers and — in a move many viewed as a symptom of paranoia — objecting to CIA officers serving as a part of her security detail because she did not trust that agency.
Another source pushed back on this notion and said Gabbard only removed one member of her detail for incompetence and lack of professionalism.
“She is extremely grateful for her protective team and trusts them with her life,” a spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence told CNN.
Gabbard and CIA director Ratcliffe have had a fraught relationship, according to multiple sources. Gabbard felt Ratcliffe at times was going around her directly to the president, despite the agencies traditionally working hand in hand. This prompted Gabbard to begin talking to the president directly about various issues, something one source speculated saved her job.
Gabbard met with Trump in the Oval Office on Friday to present him with her resignation letter. A source close to Gabbard told CNN on Friday that despite her turbulent tenure at DNI, a key reason she stayed in the job as long as she did was simply that the president still likes her personally.
Another source close to Gabbard said she had been wrestling with the decision to resign since her husband was diagnosed roughly three weeks ago.
Trump praised Gabbard on social media Friday after she announced her departure, saying she’d done an “incredible job” — a message that did not reference his previous clashes with his intelligence chief on Iran and Venezuela.
But while she found some common ground with Trump, Gabbard seemed to be largely on the outside looking in during her tenure.
“She’s just not in sync with this administration,” Beth Sanner, a former deputy director of national intelligence, said Friday on CNN’s “The Lead.”
“This is why her initials DNI became ‘do not invite,’” Sanner added. “In this administration, Tulsi was put in a position where I think that she just was such a bad fit that it became absolutely nothing. And she then turned to other endeavors.”
Gabbard’s 18-month tenure in the job, which ends next month, is defined as much by her lack of involvement in Trump’s military actions as it is for her willingness to pursue some of Trump’s biggest grievances.
She declassified documents from the intelligence community’s assessment on 2016 Russian election interference in order to claim President Barack Obama was behind a “treasonous conspiracy” against Trump. She took voting machines in Puerto Rico to try to prove baseless claims of election rigging. And in January, pictures of Gabbard on the scene in Fulton County, Georgia, as FBI agents seized ballots from the 2020 election raised serious questions over why Trump would want his top spy chief present — given that the DNI is barred from domestic law enforcement operations.
Gabbard’s decision to take on a prominent role in election-related investigations was described by some Trump officials as a sign of just how much she had been sidelined on the more pressing issues like Iran and Venezuela.
One source familiar with the matter said the two were unrelated — noting that Trump called Gabbard directly and asked her to oversee the election-related investigations because he knew she was already looking into 2020 on his behalf.
Gabbard was always an unconventional choice as director of national intelligence, a role created after 9/11 to facilitate information sharing and coordination across the 18 agencies that make up the US intelligence community. A Hawaii congresswoman who ran for president as a Democrat in 2020, Gabbard had previously expressed sympathy toward whistleblowers who leaked classified information and criticized Trump’s military actions against Iran during his first term.
But after a falling out with Democrats during the Biden administration — including Gabbard’s opposition to US aid to Ukraine to fight Russia — Gabbard became a Republican and endorsed Trump in 2024.
It didn’t take long, however, for Gabbard’s anti-war views to run afoul of Trump. In March 2025, she testified to Congress that Iran was not actively pursuing a nuclear weapon — a direct contradiction of claims from US and Israeli officials that Iran was rapidly working to obtain a bomb.
“She’s wrong,” Trump said of Gabbard in June 2025, days before he launched missile strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites.
CNN reported at the time that Trump considered Gabbard “off message,” driven by her video warning about the dangers of nuclear proliferation and blaming “political elite and warmongers” for stoking “fear and tensions between nuclear powers.”
After the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran this February, Gabbard was again put in the awkward position of being pressed on the basis behind the strikes during congressional testimony.
“It is not the intelligence community’s responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat,” Gabbard said in her testimony before the House and Senate Intelligence Committees in March.
If Gabbard did not see eye-to-eye with Trump on military intervention, she was able turn the page quickly last year to a topic he was fully behind.
Last July, Gabbard declassified and released a series of documents she claimed were proof of the Obama administration “manufacturing” evidence against Trump in its 2017 intelligence assessment that Russian President Vladimir Putin had interfered in the 2016 election and tried to help Trump.
Many of Gabbard’s claims that the intelligence was manufactured were dubious, however. A Republican-led Senate report in 2020 agreed with the intelligence community’s conclusions on Russia’s election interference and Putin’s role directing the effort.
Last August, Gabbard revoked the security clearances of at least 37 current and former national security officials, a list that included people involved in the Russia assessment and members of President Joe Biden’s National Security Council.
In January, Gabbard took the extraordinary step of going to the scene after FBI agents executed a search warrant for the Fulton County elections office, near Atlanta.
Gabbard’s presence turned heads, given her purview generally involved coordinating US intelligence agencies and their efforts overseas, not domestic matters or law enforcement.
While there, Gabbard put Trump on the phone with some of the FBI agents who searched the elections office, CNN reported at the time.
She told top Democrats on the House and Senate Intelligence committees in a letter that her presence during the search “was requested by the President.”
Several former senior intelligence officials and election law experts told CNN that Gabbard had no legal authority over the FBI search and that her presence in Fulton County risked eroding a crucial line between foreign and domestic intelligence activities instituted after Watergate.
After the Trump administration offered conflicting explanations for Gabbard’s presence, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump had “tapped” Gabbard “to oversee the sanctity and the security of our American elections” and that she was “working directly alongside the FBI director.”