The White House left out Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard during months of planning to oust Nicolás Maduro because her previous opposition to military action in Venezuela raised doubts about her support for the operation, according to people close to the matter.
Gabbard’s exclusion from meetings was so well known that some White House aides joked that her position’s acronym, DNI, stood for “Do Not Invite,” according to three sources who preferred to remain anonymous. A White House representative denied that such a joke ever existed.
In 2019, when she was a Democratic congresswoman, Gabbard stated that the US should “stay out” of Venezuela, and until last month she criticized “warmongers” who want to push the US into conflict.
This exclusion is further evidence of the long-standing tension surrounding Gabbard’s role in the Trump administration, and shows how the president’s decision to oust Maduro — even as he campaigned against starting new wars — opened fissures not only among his MAGA supporters, but also within his team.
Vice President JD Vance called the idea that he or Gabbard were left out of planning the operation “false.” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said Trump “has complete confidence in DNI Gabbard and she is doing an excellent job.”
“We are all part of the same team,” Vance told reporters at the White House on Thursday (8). “One incredible thing about this operation is that we kept everything very restricted to senior government officials and kept it secret for a long time.”
Continues after advertising
A senior intelligence official disputed the idea that Gabbard was excluded, saying she provided information that helped the mission, even if it was more analytical than operational. A spokeswoman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) told Bloomberg a post by Gabbard on social media on Tuesday praising the military for the “impeccable execution” of the operation to capture Maduro.
“President Trump promised the American people that he would secure our borders, stand up to narcoterrorism, dangerous cartels and drug traffickers,” she wrote. The post broke a days-long silence after other senior national security officials celebrated the operation in interviews and on social media.
While Gabbard’s role is non-operational, her exclusion from planning — which began to intensify in late summer — is unusual, according to former officials who worked in both Democratic and Republican administrations. As director of national intelligence, Gabbard was supposed to be Trump’s top intelligence adviser, overseeing the 18 U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA.
Photos released by the White House after the raid show Trump and several close aides, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, gathered in a makeshift room watching the events unfold in real time. Gabbard was not among them.
“It’s very strange that the DNI is not involved in operations like this, especially something related to Venezuela,” said Cedric Leighton, a retired U.S. Air Force intelligence colonel. “The photo shows exactly what is happening to Tulsi Gabbard right now.”
This also shows the Trump team’s skepticism towards the DNI position. Some argue that the role, created after 9/11 to coordinate the various intelligence agencies, should be abolished. At the same time, the White House and Trump have expressed discomfort with Gabbard since she took office.
Continues after advertising
Last summer, Trump was angered by a video Gabbard posted on social media in June warning that the world is closer to nuclear war than ever before, according to sources. The video did not name countries, but was published shortly before Trump ordered an attack on Iran.
Marc Gustafson, director of analysis at Eurasia Group and former head of the White House Situation Room, said it’s not uncommon for directors to be left out of planning like this. Previous presidents—like Obama, Biden, and even Trump in his first term—sometimes relied on the CIA director or the DNI to plan events, leaving the other out temporarily.
Gabbard continues to brief the president regularly and attends meetings in the Oval Office, the senior intelligence official said. He said it is unfair to focus only on Gabbard’s past views, as other Trump advisers, such as Vance, have also disagreed with policies or criticized the president.
Continues after advertising
Under Trump, Gabbard has taken a more political tone to her role. She has prioritized declassifying documents important to Trump’s base — such as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and Russian election interference — and combating what she and Trump call the Deep State in the intelligence community.
Gabbard, 44, an Iraq War veteran and Army Reserve officer, is an outspoken critic of U.S. involvement in protracted regime-change wars, including in her current role.
In 2019, she said that “we don’t want other countries to choose our leaders — so we have to stop trying to choose theirs.”
Continues after advertising
“When we look at history, every time the U.S. goes into another country and overthrows a dictator or government, the result is disastrous for the people of those countries,” she told Fox News in May of that year.
Gabbard, who ran for president in 2020, said in October that “for decades, our foreign policy has been trapped in a never-ending and counterproductive cycle of regime change or nation-building.”
“The old Washington way of thinking is something we hope to have left behind,” she said.
Continues after advertising
© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.
