President Donald Trump has reportedly polled senior cabinet officials on whether he should fire his Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, over her stance on the ongoing war with Iran, according to a new report. This development follows the recent dramatic exit of Kristi Noem from her role as Secretary of State for Homeland Security and comes amid speculation that Attorney General Pam Bondi may also be dismissed imminently.
Gabbard's Controversial Position on Iran
Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman who joined the Republican Party in 2022, has attracted Trump's displeasure after failing to condemn former counterterrorism chief Joe Kent following his resignation last month. Kent quit his post and publicly criticised the administration's decision to take the United States to war with Iran.
According to two sources briefed on the discussions, Trump has disclosed his frustrations with Gabbard to other senior members of the administration and asked them whether he should replace her. The Guardian reports that this polling occurred shortly after Kristi Noem was removed from her position due to growing backlash over her handling of ICE immigration crackdowns in Minneapolis.
Testimony That Angered the President
Gabbard, who previously deployed to Iraq for twelve months in 2004-2005 as a medical specialist in the U.S. Army and was later stationed in Kuwait, has not been as publicly supportive of the Iran war as more gung-ho members of the Trump administration, such as Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio. She had previously cautioned against such a conflict.
Days after Kent's departure, Gabbard gave testimony at a Capitol Hill hearing on worldwide threats, where she declined to criticise his decision or his claims that Israel was pushing the U.S. for war and that Iran did not present an imminent nuclear threat. According to the two people The Guardian spoke to, this angered Trump significantly.
Public Support Amid Private Doubts
Nonetheless, Trump has indicated he is currently standing by her, telling reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday: “She’s a little bit different in her thought process than me, but that doesn’t make somebody not available to serve.”
He added: “I would say that I'm very strong on the fact that I don't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon because if they had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it immediately. I think she's probably a little bit softer on that issue, but that's okay.”
Speculation Over Pam Bondi's Future
Trump's reported polling of cabinet officials about Gabbard's future comes as he mulls firing another senior female cabinet member: Attorney General Pam Bondi. Sources told Politico that Bondi is likely on the way out of the Trump administration, with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin reportedly lined up as a potential replacement.
That report came hours after the New York Times said Trump was considering replacing Bondi amid backlash over her botched handling of the Epstein files. Trump had campaigned on a platform of releasing more from the investigation into his one-time friend, before later dismissing the substance of the files as a "Democrat hoax".
Last summer, Bondi said there would be no new information released. Congress then passed a law requiring the total release of the files. The Department of Justice did not release the full files by the deadline and many of the thousands of pages were heavily redacted.
Mixed Signals from the Administration
Despite the private suggestion that Bondi will be out of the role "imminently", in public Trump has also expressed his support for her. “Attorney General Pam Bondi is a wonderful person and she is doing a good job,” the president said in a statement to The Times this week, while a source told CNN that the pair were conducting “business as usual.”
The Independent has contacted The White House, Gabbard's office, and Bondi's office for comment, but no official statements have been released at this time. The situation highlights the ongoing tensions within the Trump administration over key policy issues and personnel decisions.
