An already shaky alliance inside the White House just got even messier, and now it looks like the clock may be ticking.
President Donald Trump is reportedly turning up the pressure on Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard behind the scenes, with new reports claiming he wants her out before the midterm elections, even as his own team publicly insists everything is fine.
That’s a sharp escalation from what was already a chaotic internal saga.
Earlier reporting painted a picture of a frustrated Trump losing patience with Gabbard after her carefully worded testimony on Iran and the explosive resignation of her deputy, Joe Kent, who openly contradicted the administration by saying Iran posed no imminent threat. That moment alone reportedly pushed Gabbard to the edge, with Trump quietly polling Cabinet members about whether to dump her altogether.
And in a twist that raised eyebrows across Washington, it wasn’t policy or performance that initially saved her; it was longtime Trump ally Roger Stone, who reportedly stepped in and convinced him not to pull the trigger, warning of backlash and bad optics.
“Roger sealed the deal. He saved Tulsi,” one insider said at the time, according to Axios.
But now, that “save” may have only been temporary.
According to new reporting, the White House has allegedly made it clear that Gabbard’s resignation is desired as Trump reshapes his Cabinet ahead of a critical election cycle. Sources say the administration wants her gone before voters head to the polls, even if the exact timing is still up in the air.
The friction reportedly worsened after Gabbard declined to condemn Joe Kent during a global threats hearing, a move that didn’t sit well with a president already irritated by her refusal to fully fall in line on the Iran narrative.
Behind closed doors, the signals are getting louder.
Trump has reportedly continued sounding out advisers and Cabinet officials about replacing her, despite offering a carefully hedged public defense when pressed.
“Yeah, sure,” Trump said when asked if he still had confidence in her. “She’s a little bit different in her thought process than me, but that doesn’t make somebody not available to serve.”
Meanwhile, White House spokesperson Steven Cheung insists Trump still supports her, calling her work “tireless,” while Gabbard’s own team says she remains committed to her role.
But the contradiction is hard to ignore. And with no clear successor lined up, and advisers warning that a sudden vacancy could become a political distraction, the situation is starting to look less like a clean exit strategy and more like a slow-motion unraveling.
For now, Gabbard is still in the seat.
But the way this is playing out, it’s starting to feel less like she was “saved”… and more like she was given a little extra time before something else happens.
If she resigns, Gabbard would be the third woman in Trump’s cabinet to leave. Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and former Attorney General Pam Bondi have both been fired in the past two months. It has not gone unnoticed by the public.
“Yet another woman pushed out of the trumpet administration! That tracks,” one X user observed.
However, Gabbard got little empathy from many online.
“He used everyone, the next to be resigned will be RFK Jr,” another X user wrote. ‘Tulsi should’ve never sold her soul to this disastrous administration,” another person wrote.
