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National Intelligence Director, Tulsi Gabbard, Is Resigning; Rain, Storms Expected Across The East For Memorial Day Weekend. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired May 22, 2026 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

` [13:30:00]

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With this investigation into alleged voter fraud in Georgia, that really turned a lot of heads, simply because that was not supposed to be her role as the Director of National Intelligence.

But also, guys, remember after the war began in late February, the administration, of course, attempted to justify going to war with Iran by claiming that Iran was rebuilding its nuclear program and that it posed an imminent threat following those strikes in June of 2025, the administration claiming that Iran was rebuilding its program and posed an imminent threat.

Well, she had remarks to the Senate Intelligence Committee less than a month after the war began saying as a result of Midnight Hammer, that was the operation in June, Iran's new nuclear enrichment program was obliterated. There has been no effort since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability. She then essentially, almost contradicting the administration's claim that Iran had posed an imminent threat.

So she got in a bit of hot water for that. Again, that was a hearing in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee less than a month after the Iran War began.

Guys, I've just been handed this. I can read from you. This is her resignation note that we've obtained from Tulsi Gabbard. It's about five paragraphs long. I'll just read as much of it as I can and try to break it down for you.

Dear Mr. President, I am deeply grateful for the trust you placed in me and for the opportunity to lead the office of the Director of National Intelligence for the last year and a half. Unfortunately, I must submit my resignation effective June 30th, 2026.

My husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer, she writes. He faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months. At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle. Abraham has been my rock throughout our 11 years of marriage, standing steadfast through my deployment to East Africa on a joint special operations mission, multiple political campaigns, and now my service in this role. His strength and love have sustained me through every challenge. I cannot in good conscience ask him to face this fight alone while I continue in this demanding and time-consuming position.

The letter continues here, quote, "While we've made significant progress at the ODNI, advancing unprecedented transparency and restoring integrity to the intelligence community, I recognize there is still important work to be done. I am fully committed to ensuring a smooth and thorough transition over the coming weeks, so that you and your team experience no disruption in leadership or momentum. Thank you for your understanding during this deeply personal and difficult time for our family. I will remain forever grateful to you and to the American people for the profound honor of serving our nation as DNI. With love and aloha, Tulsi Gabbard."

So that's what you've got. That is her letter to President Trump, dated today, as our colleague Kevin and our other colleague, Kaitlan Collins broke the news before we even got this letter that she was resigning. And again, she confirming in this letter, guys, that she is doing this because her husband, Abraham, has been diagnosed recently with an extremely rare form of bone cancer.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Yeah. I mean, obviously a personal component to this, as she laid out in the letter itself. And there are still other policy debates that have happened as you laid out as well, Brian, including about whether the -- what the capabilities of Iran were and have been to get to a nuclear weapon, but obviously, putting that at the center of that letter.

Thank you for reading that. Brian, stick around, because I also want to bring in National Security Analyst, Beth Sanner. So Beth, I know you heard some of that letter there, but I also just want to talk about sort of the policy positioning of where Tulsi Gabbard was in terms of Director of National Intelligence.

We heard at points that debate sort of, I guess not so much debate, a difference in stated position between what we heard from the president at times, sometimes it was Steve Witkoff, in terms of the ability for Iran to get a nuclear weapons-grade weapon. And then she would often say that the capability was obliterated.

I wonder for you, who just follows this space so closely, what did you see the most -- as most significant in her dynamic as DNI here?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: And I think that the primary issue was that she just didn't really deliver substance and kind of a purpose for the administration from an intelligence perspective and that John Ratcliffe at CIA did.

And so, the contrast between them and the ability of them to represent the intelligence in a way that, I think that Director Ratcliffe is just more artful in threading the needle and then, behind the scenes, providing really value added because the CIA has that value added, right?

They have deeper analytic core and then they have the operational capabilities that, of course, ODNI doesn't have. And so I think that, you know, it's the divergence of views that were very core to who Tulsi Gabbard is and was, that never really synced, and then just, you know, the value added, or lack thereof.

[13:35:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Wow. I'm also curious, Beth, about the most recent incident that drew criticism from both parties regarding her visit to this elections office in Georgia. She's obviously, as DNI, focused on coordinating overseas intelligence, but there she is in Fulton County at a domestic FBI search of this elections office, reportedly putting President Trump on the phone with FBI agents as well, raising concerns about political interference, the backdrop, of course, President Trump's claims about the 2020 election and there being fraud in Georgia.

And then beyond that, there were these conflicting explanations about why specifically the DNI would even be there. I mean, what does that tell you about her time as DNI and the ways in which her relationship with the president evolved into her work?

SANNER: Yeah, I think that, you know, the DNI Gabbard was in search of a mission that was of value to the president. And you know, there was this kind of joke, very sad joke from her perspective, where her initials, DNI, stood for 'do not invite' to all these foreign policy meetings. And you would see that she was completely absent from Mar-a- Lago during the Venezuela operation, during the Iran operation.

And so, she was in search of a mission that was of value and this election fraud mission was something that, where, you know, she jumped in to take up that mantle. There are, you know, from my perspective, having been, you know, the number three at ODNI in my last government position, I believe that her presence was counter to her authorities.

I don't think that the DNI has authority for this kind of engagement on domestic election issues, even when there is a potential foreign nexus. And in the case of Georgia, in all of the years, remember this is, you know, this is many, many years, there has never been an accusation or an inkling of foreign activity related to that outcome.

And so, you know, it was just completely off the charts weird --

(LAUGH)

SANNER: -- and then, you know, just from my perspective and from many others beyond what a director of national intelligence should be doing.

SANCHEZ: Beth Sanner, thank you so much for sharing your perspective. If you're just joining us, major Breaking News for the Trump administration. The Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, announcing that she is preparing to resign after her husband of 11 years, Abraham Williams, has been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer.

We're going to stay on top of this story and get you the latest as we look back at a controversial 15-month tenure for Gabbard as DNI. Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:42:16]

JIMENEZ: I'm going to get you back to the Breaking News. Tulsi Gabbard is stepping down as Director of National Intelligence citing a diagnosis of her husband of a rare form of bone cancer and the president now posting a statement to Truth Social about this, saying unfortunately, after having done a great job, Tulsi Gabbard will be leaving the administration on June 30th.

Her wonderful husband, Abraham, has been recently diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer, he goes on to say. Tulsi has done an incredible job and we will miss her, her highly respected Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Aaron Lucas, will serve as Acting Director of National Intelligence.

I want to bring in Democratic Congressman, Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts. Congressman, obviously, we did not know this was going to happen when we made plans to speak here, but what is your immediate reaction to hearing this news of the coming resignation?

REP. JAKE AUCHINCLOSS, (D-MA): It's nice to be with you again. Immediate reaction, first is, I wish her husband, Abraham, the best with this rare form of bone cancer. In terms of the impact on U.S. foreign policy, I think it's basically irrelevant. She was entirely out of the loop on decision-making regarding the Middle East, regarding China, regarding Latin America, was either contradicting the president or just simply not in the room when the decisions were being made.

The people who were in the room seemed to be like his comms director and his deputy comms director when he was go/no-go on Iran, for example. So I don't think it has much impact on how this president makes decisions. He's been very clear, he makes decisions based on his gut instinct, which is why it is so important for Congress to take back the steering wheel of foreign policy.

I mean Republicans just canceled votes yesterday, because this war powers resolution was going to pass and they wanted to prevent that from happening, that's what we got to be focused on, not on some official who, frankly, wasn't dispositive in decisions anyway.

JIMENEZ: Well, we did see on the policy front some differences between her and the president play out publicly at points, especially over Iran. But again, as she's put out in this letter that it's her diagnosis -- the diagnosis of her husband seems to be the center of this, so we wish them the best on that front.

To the point that you were raising about Congress, right now, yes, the House did not hold a vote on the war powers resolution. But there also seems to be whether it is over President Trump's wishes for the ballroom and the price tag attached to it, the pushing against incumbents as well, what are you hearing privately? Or not (ph) from your Republican colleagues right now, just sort of about where they are in terms of temperature on the president and where they are in terms of potentially working with Democrats on certain initiatives.

AUCHINCLOSS: What I'm hearing and seeing in Congress is that the congressional Republicans can run, but they can't hide from how angry the American public is right now.

[13:45:00]

The American public is angry about the failure of this Iran War that is costing them directly $45 billion and the taxpayers more broadly at least another $30 billion. They're angry this president isn't taking seriously housing, energy and health care inflation. They're angry about the kind of rampant corruption exemplified by this $1.8 billion slush fund. And congressional Republicans are feeling that anger and they're starting to buckle under it.

Now, they're ultimately not going to stand up to the president though, which is why it's so critical for Democrats to take back the House in November and we will with candidates like Denise Powell in Nebraska and Sam Forstag in Montana and Josh Turek in Iowa. We're going to win.

JIMENEZ: Is there any issue in particular to where you feel Republicans may be most willing to work with Democrats, whether it is that anti-weaponization fund as it is being billed or otherwise?

AUCHINCLOSS: The issue that I think we could get done before this term is out is energy permitting reform. I think there's a big consensus in Congress that we got to make it faster to build stuff in this country. In 1954, the United States built its first nuclear power plant, took us three years to do it.

In the 21st century, four years to build a nuclear power plant -- excuse me, took four years to finish the paperwork for a nuclear power plant, took another 15 years to build it. That's ridiculous. It can't take two decades to get clean energy onto the grid in this country.

Democrats, Republicans agree. I'd like to see us come together and get that done. But in terms of the Congressional Republicans standing up to Trump on the issues that are front and center to Americans on cost of living, on corruption, I mean we've been watching this for 10 years, right? We know how this show ends. They're not going to do it.

JIMENEZ: You know, looking ahead to the midterms and beyond, I want to ask you about this '2024 Autopsy' that the DNC released yesterday. While a lot of the data in there as it laid out in the report wasn't fully verified in at least the version that was released. One of the things it did say was that Democrats indexed too heavily into anti- Trump and not so much the pro-Democrat.

And I wonder how much do you buy into that from the 2024 cycle and contrast that with where you believe the Democratic Party is now and where it needs to go to make progress this year and into 2028?

AUCHINCLOSS: I agree. Didn't need the autopsy report to tell us that in 2026. I mean the group that I'm the chair of, Majority Democrats, a group of 40 elected officials seeking to reinvent the Democratic Party, we've been doing this work for more than a year now. Our sister organization, The Bench, has been supporting about two dozen candidates in the toughest seats in this country based on authentic connections with voters.

I mentioned Turek in Iowa and Powell in Nebraska and Forstag in Montana. We didn't try to reinvent the Democratic Party from the beltway out through consultant reports. We're doing it from voters in with actual conversations about what people want and what people want is to believe in a new American dream where if you work hard, if you follow the rules, you can get an excellent education, you can buy your own home, you can have a dignified retirement.

We're going to deliver that in partnership with the American public.

JIMENEZ: Just before we go, do you still have confidence in Ken Martin at the top of the DNC?

AUCHINCLOSS: Ken Martin is not what's going to be critical for winning the midterms.

(LAUGH)

I'm focused on firing Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House. I'm not worried about Ken Martin's job.

JIMENEZ: Congressman Jake Auchincloss, appreciate the time. Thanks for being here.

AUCHINCLOSS: Take care.

JIMENEZ: All right. We've been talking about the unofficial start to summer, mainly in regards to the price tag of things, but it is going to be a soggy one. After the break, we'll have a look at your Memorial Day weekend forecast. Just that (ph).

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:53:06]

SANCHEZ: If you've got big plans for the holiday weekend, you may want to save them for next week. A lot of the country is going to see some less than ideal weather, rainy and cool across the eastern U.S. The west, though, is getting a lot of heat and sunshine.

Allison Chinchar joins us now with the forecast. Allison, what is it going to look like?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's going to be quite different on each coast, but then they're going to kind of flip-flop as we head into next week. So let's take a look at where we stand right now.

You can see a lot of the storm activity right now focused across the Ohio and Tennessee valleys and then right down closer to the Gulf Coast. That's where you have a lot of the thunderstorm activity and even a few flash flood warnings because a lot of these areas have actually had rain the last few days now. We're getting even more rain on top of it, which is leading to those flooding concerns.

For the remainder of the day today, those rain showers are going to continue not just across the southeast, but we're going to start to notice some of those heavier rain bands sliding into the mid-Atlantic and eventually into the northeast as we head into the day Saturday. That's where you're certainly going to see a lot more of the widespread showers, Saturday into Sunday.

But that doesn't mean the southeast is in the clear. You're still going to have a lot of those pop-up, very summer-like showers and thunderstorms. The difference is going to be a lot of this area has had so much rain. All of these green-shaded areas you see cycling through the next five days, that's where you have the potential for flooding.

And again, you may have noticed a lot of those same states repeating over and over again because a lot of the showers and thunderstorms are going to be hitting the same locations.

We also have the potential for some strong to severe thunderstorms. The target is really going to be over this yellow-shaded area. That includes Amarillo and Lubbock, where we could have some of those stronger thunderstorms with damaging winds, maybe some large hail, and even an isolated tornado.

The one thing to note, because of all the shower activity, because of all the extra cloud cover, those temperatures are going to be much cooler than normal in the east. Take a look at Washington, D.C., for example. The average is 78 this time of year. We are going to be roughly 10 to 20 degrees cooler than that through the weekend.

[13:55:00]

New York, Boston, not much better, still at least about 10 to 15 degrees cooler than where they should be. Minneapolis, Chicago, and St. Louis, still a pretty cool day today, but you're gradually going to start to see those numbers jumping back up as we head into next week.

So take New York, for example. Look at this. Again, very cool, very soggy weekend for Saturday and Sunday, and even going into the holiday on Monday. But then we start to see those temperatures jumping back up. Look at this. By Wednesday, you've got some sunshine back into the mix, and a high of 86 degrees.

It's the opposite, however, out to the west. Seattle, a beautiful, sunny, and mild weekend, and then the bottom drops out early next week.

SANCHEZ: And Allison, forgive my shameless plug, but if you want to be up to date with the weather in your area, you can download the CNN app, which is right there. Just take a screenshot of this thing right here, and it'll lead you right to it.

Allison Chinchar, thank you so much for that update. A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts after a quick break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)