President Donald Trump has privately surveyed close aides on whether he should ax another top official who embarrassed him, a new report alleges.
Just as he did before firing his former Department of Homeland Security boss, Kristi Noem, two administration officials tell The Guardian that Trump has polled his cabinet on whether he should also remove Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Some advisers are cautioning against axing Gabbard, warning that a second high-profile ouster in as many months, without a clear successor lined up, could do more harm than good, sources told the paper.
Gabbard reportedly rankled Trump when she refused to condemn Joe Kent, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, who resigned over his opposition to the Iran war. Sources told Fox News that Gabbard declined to fire Kent despite being the White House urging her to.
The report suggesting that Gabbard is on thin ice comes as Trump, 79, reportedly weighs whether to cut loose Attorney General Pam Bondi, too.
The president has a preferred successor for Bondi, sources tell The New York Times. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who was present at Trump’s primetime address on Wednesday night, is tipped to take over if Trump pulls the trigger.
Zeldin was notably seated in the front row during Trump’s address—something speculated to be a foreboding nod to Bondi.
Gabbard, who was also present at the address, has faced weeks of scrutiny over her position on Trump’s war with Iran, as she has historically been a passionately anti-war politician who even sold shirts emblazoned with the text, “NO WAR WITH IRAN.”
Last month, Gabbard was grilled before the House Intelligence Committee on whether she agreed with Kent’s assessment of the war. In his letter of resignation, he undercut Trump’s justification of “Operation Epic Fury,” stating that Iran “posed no imminent threat” to the U.S.
“He [Kent] said a lot of things in that letter,” Gabbard said when asked if she agreed. “Ultimately, we have provided the President with the intelligence assessments, and the President is elected by the American people and makes his own decisions based on the information that’s available to him.”
Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York pushed Gabbard once again for a definitive answer, eager to know whether she “agreed” with Kent’s letter. Gabbard deferred, and Trump read that as a sign of protecting Kent, The Guardian’s sources claimed.
“Yeah, sure,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday when asked if he still had faith in Gabbard, who was confirmed by the Senate in February.
“I mean, she’s a little bit different in her thought process than me, but that doesn’t make somebody not available to serve,” he added.
White House spokesperson Steven Cheung defended Gabbard’s tenure, telling The Guardian in a statement: “As President Trump just said in his remarks, he has confidence in Director Gabbard and the tireless work she is doing. He has assembled the most talented and impactful cabinet ever, and they have collectively delivered historic victories on behalf of the American people.”
Indeed, Trump has expressed his confidence in Gabbard himself and via intermediaries. His press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, went to bat for her on Fox News last month, days before a White House source told the Daily Mail rumors of Gabbard stepping down are “bulls--t.”
“I thought she did a good job yesterday,” Trump said after Gabbard spoke before the House Intelligence Committee on March 19, three weeks after he launched strikes on Iran.
Gabbard’s office pushed back against the Guardian report, too.
“Over the past two weeks, President Trump said both that he has confidence in the DNI and that she did well at her hearings before Congress. She remains committed to fulfilling the responsibilities the President placed in her to protect the safety, security, and freedom of the American people,” a spokesperson said.
A source familiar with proceedings told the Daily Beast that Gabbard did distance herself from Kent, and added that CIA Director John Ratcliffe expressed a similar sentiment towards the war when grilled alongside the DNI chief at the House Intelligence Committee hearing last month.
He said: “The president as Commander in Chief gets to make a decision about what’s an imminent threat.”
The source added that Gabbard “spends nearly every day at the White House in support of the ongoing conflict in Iran,” despite her previous anti-war stance.
