Is Tulsi Gabbard being quietly pushed out?
That is the question rippling through Washington after a flurry of reports claimed the Director of National Intelligence was shut out of planning for President Trump’s audacious Venezuela operation.
There were claims that her long history of skepticism toward regime change explained she was frozen out from the president’s inner circle.
Photos posted from a vacation to Hawaii during preparations for the audacious operation didn’t prevent intensifying whispers that she is losing influence inside the intelligence community.
Rumors that her authority is being hollowed out as the CIA and the Pentagon tighten their grip on high-stakes foreign operations.
Some even went further, claiming she had been deliberately excluded as Trump’s team quietly laid the groundwork for action against Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro.
Gabbard’s more cautious inclinations remain a thorn in the side of entrenched interests in the intelligence community, who prefer narrow intelligence delivery to bolster direct action.
Her skepticism about the intelligence surrounding the 12-day war in Iran inspired some in Washington, DC, to seek any opportunity to push her away from the president’s orbit.
President Donald Trump signs Tulsi Gabbard’s commission for her new role as Director of National Intelligence
CIA Director John Ratcliffe, FBI Director Kash Patel and Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard testify before a Senate Intelligence Committee
Behind the scenes, the White House is furious at any suggestion of cracks in Trump and Gabbard’s relationship.
Senior officials tell the Daily Mail the reports are not only false but part of a coordinated attempt to undermine Gabbard’s standing and paint a picture of a power vacuum at the top of the intelligence apparatus.
An insider also added that she has no intention of resigning and is fully committed to her role as long as the president wants her to stay.
Far from being sidelined, they say, Gabbard was repeatedly at the White House last week, personally leading the president’s intelligence briefings as the Venezuela operation moved from planning to execution.
A senior administration official confirmed that Gabbard and the president were in contact multiple times over the Christmas holiday, speaking while she was in Hawaii and Trump was at Mar-a-Lago.
Gabbard used secure communications and a SCIF to remain in constant touch with the president and his national security team.
Exact details of when she was read into the Venezuela operation remain classified. But officials told the Daily Mail it is ‘absurd’ to suggest she had been cut out as the Pentagon and CIA began deploying assets to the region over the holiday period.
Allies of Gabbard believe the sidelining narrative is being driven by rivals who want to shrink her influence or push her out altogether as the administration navigates one of its most sensitive foreign policy gambits.
‘Tulsi’s got real intelligence,’ the source said. ‘She’s a hero on Trump’s team. They have a good relationship.’
Washington insiders acknowledge there are sharp internal debates on foreign policy. But they say the idea that Gabbard is being stripped of power is wildly overstated.
‘At the end of the day, the president makes the call and they all back the president,’ a senior administration official told the Daily Mail.
White House communications director Stephen Cheung told the Daily Mail: ‘Efforts by the legacy media to sow internal division are a distraction that will not work.
‘President Trump has full confidence in DNI Gabbard and she’s doing a fantastic job.’
Vice President JD Vance also swatted down the claims, calling them ‘completely false’ in a press briefing on Thursday, though he declined to spell out her exact role in the mission in Venezuela.
Tulsi Gabbard was home in Hawaii when the president launched the operation to capture Nicolás Maduro
Tulsi Gabbard speaks during Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in December 2025.
They point to a pattern of leaks that have repeatedly attempted to cast her as isolated or out of favor, particularly after past operations involving Iran.
In reality, sources say, Gabbard fully backed Trump’s unprecedented but narrowly targeted move against Maduro, viewing it as a law enforcement action rather than a traditional regime change war.
The former Democrat and Iraq War veteran has long warned against open-ended interventions. But insiders say the limited scope of the mission allowed even the most intervention-skeptical officials to support the president’s decision.
The number of people aware of the operation was kept extremely small, a senior official told the Daily Mail, in part because of the unprecedented nature of the mission and its sensitive legal footing.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe handled the operational intelligence side because of the agency’s role on the ground, sources explained, while Gabbard’s office focused on analysis and coordination across the intelligence community.
Ratcliffe himself vocalized his support for Gabbard in a statement to the Daily Mail.
‘DNI Gabbard has been a strong partner in leading the intelligence community’s analytic and coordination enterprise and has always been very supportive of CIA’s role in collecting foreign intelligence and conducting covert action,’ he said.
The State Department also rejected claims that Secretary Marco Rubio had worked to keep Gabbard out of the loop.
‘This is a tired and false narrative attempting to promote a fake story of division when there is none,’ Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott told the Daily Mail.
