Tulsi Gabbard resigns as US national intelligence director
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This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Tee säästämisestä numero. Aloita säännöllinen kuukausisäästäminen S-Pankissa vaikka kympillä kuussa tai valitse juuri sinulle sopiva summa. Klikkaa itsesi S-Pankkiin ja tutustu kuukausisäästämiseen. Ihana mutkatonta. S-Pankki. Suomen mutkattomin pankki. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton, and in the early hours of Saturday, the 23rd of May, these are our main stories. Donald Trump's director of national intelligence resigns for personal reasons, but Tulsi Gabbard also struggled with the president's decision to enter into foreign wars. Our North America editor wraps up another tumultuous week for the U.S.
president. And the Democratic Republic of Congo says Ebola cases have now been reported across several conflict-hit eastern provinces. Also in this podcast, we look at the legacy of Carlo Petrini, the founder of the global slow food movement. And the tennis legend Billie Jean King finally graduates the age of 82. It's just so great. I just wish my parents could have been there because I'm the first in our immediate family to finish college or university. So I'm happy I finally did it. We start in the U.S. with the announcement of the resignation of another Trump cabinet member. Tulsi Gabbard is stepping down, citing personal reasons. She'd been serving as the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, normally a position that wields great power and influence in the Oval Office.
But long before she announced her departure, Tulsi Gabbard had largely taken a back seat in the administration. Once a Democrat, she'd switched her allegiance to the Republicans under Donald Trump and was a vocal supporter of his America First policy. The president's interventions in Venezuela and Iran put her out of step with his inner circle. With internal tensions growing, Ms Gabbard will leave at the end of next month. Our North America editor Sarah Smith told me more about Tulsi Gabbard's political struggles in office. Tulsi Gabbard was a congresswoman from Hawaii. As a Democrat, she was a big rising star in the party she even ran for president in 2020. But then she switched sides, became a big Donald Trump MAGA supporter.
And when he returned to the White House, found herself actually being appointed to this job as Director of National Intelligence. But she has been a long-term critic of wars of choice of foreign intervention. Now, of course, Donald Trump was as well during the election campaign, and that tied them closely together. But She's maintained that position during her time in office. And the result is that she was cut out of key meetings planning the military action in Venezuela when the then President Nicolas Maduro was captured by US forces and the war in Iran. She also gave some rather inconvenient testimony to Congress when she was being asked about the intelligence in Iran. And she said that they had no evidence.
that Iran was trying to rebuild its nuclear capabilities. And that was directly opposed to what Donald Trump in the White House was saying at the time. So there have clearly been tensions there for a while. And there were rumors circulating around Washington. that it was possible she might be asked to leave her post. In the end, today, she announced her resignation. She said because her husband is unwell, that he's suffering from a rare and serious bone cancer and that she needs to leave her job to support him through that battle. And Donald Trump posted on social media that Ms. Gabbard has done an incredible job and we will miss her. It's been an interesting week for the Trump administration. Congressional Republicans called off a vote on the Iran war.
Can you take through this decision and what it tells us about the party's stance on the conflict? Yes. So there was a push in the House of Representatives for a vote on a war powers resolution. And if this passed, it would compel Donald Trump to end the military action in Iran. But it needs, obviously, a majority in Congress to pass it.
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