US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard resigns; Trump faces multiple domestic and foreign policy challenges

US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced her resignation on Friday, citing her husband's cancer diagnosis, effective June 30. The 45-year-old wrote on X that she must "withdraw from public service to be by his side and fully support him in this fight." Gabbard, who took office at the start of Trump's second term in early 2025, is the fourth woman to leave the cabinet in recent months, following Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in March, Attorney General Pam Bondi in April, and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.

The White House on Friday posted an AI-generated video on X showing President Donald Trump grabbing comedian Stephen Colbert by the collar, throwing him into a trash can, and dancing, with a "Bye-bye" caption and a waving hand. Trump also reposted the clip on Truth Social. Colbert presented his final late-night show on Thursday evening US time. CBS announced last summer it was canceling the show, officially for "purely financial reasons." Trump wrote on Truth Social after the finale: "You could pick any random person off the street and they would be better than this total idiot. Thank God he's finally gone!"

US District Judge Waverly Crenshaw on Friday dismissed the criminal case against Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Ábrego García, calling the prosecution an "abuse of prosecutorial power." Ábrego García, married to an American and living in Maryland, was deported to El Salvador in March 2025 along with more than 200 other migrants and imprisoned in a notorious prison, despite a 2019 court order blocking his removal. US government lawyers later acknowledged the deportation was due to an "administrative error." After being returned to the US, he was charged with migrant smuggling. Crenshaw ruled the charges would never have been filed had Ábrego García not successfully sued over his deportation. He was released from US custody in August but still faces possible deportation.

The US immigration agency issued a directive requiring most Green Card applicants to use consular processing in their home countries, effectively raising barriers to permanent residency. Previously, tourists, students, and other visitors with limited stay could apply from within the US under certain conditions; more than half of Green Cards issued annually came through that process, according to the Washington Post. Immigration attorney Elizabeth Goss told the Post the change "will affect thousands and thousands of people," including "doctors, professors, researchers and CEOs."

Thousands of Cubans protested outside the US Embassy in Havana on Friday, waving Cuban flags and chanting "Long live Raúl!" in support of former President Raúl Castro, who was charged by US prosecutors on Wednesday with murder for ordering the 1996 shootdown of two civilian planes that killed four people. The state-run newspaper Granma called for the rally. Among the demonstrators were current President Miguel Díaz-Canel and Castro's children Mariela Castro and Alejandro Castro. The 94-year-old Castro was not present.

Hundreds protested in Nuuk, Greenland, on Thursday against the opening of a new US consulate, carrying Greenland's red-and-white flag and signs reading "USA, stop it." They chanted "No means no" and "Greenland belongs to Greenlanders." Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and several other politicians said they declined invitations to the opening. US Special Envoy for Greenland Jeff Landry said after his visit that "Greenland needs the US" and called for increased US military presence, including three new bases in southern Greenland. A 1951 defense agreement between the US and Denmark, updated in 2004, gives Washington broad latitude to deploy troops on the island as long as Danish and Greenlandic authorities are notified.

Republicans in the House of Representatives on Thursday postponed a vote on a resolution that would have limited Trump's war powers in Iran, fearing insufficient votes to defeat it. The resolution would have required Trump to withdraw troops from Iran operations or seek congressional approval for further engagement. Democratic Representative Jim McGovern said: "You don't dare vote on it!" The Iran war has driven up US gasoline and other costs, and a majority of Americans oppose the military action.

A commission approved Trump's plan for a 76-meter-tall triumphal arch in Washington, D.C., to be built opposite the Lincoln Memorial on the other side of the Potomac River, in front of Arlington National Cemetery. The Commission of Fine Arts, whose members were fired by Trump last year and replaced with allies, voted unanimously on Thursday. Another commission will review the monument on June 4. Vietnam veterans have complained the arch would block views from the cemetery. Trump told reporters: "We're doing it. We don't need anything from Congress."

Senate Republicans halted a vote on a $72 billion immigration enforcement bill due to a dispute over a $1.8 billion compensation fund for alleged victims of political persecution, which would include those convicted for the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack. The vote was postponed until at least June. Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina called the fund "a huge stupidity" and said "the American people will flatly reject it." Two Capitol Police officers, Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges, filed a lawsuit against the fund on Wednesday in Washington, calling it a "slush fund" for insurrectionists. The lawsuit argues the fund violates the 14th Amendment, which prohibits the US from assuming debts incurred in support of insurrection. The fund is part of a settlement between Trump and the Justice Department, which also permanently bars the IRS from auditing Trump's past tax returns.

Trump announced on Truth Social on Thursday that the US will send 5,000 additional troops to Poland, citing his good relationship with Polish President Karol Nawrocki.

China has reportedly delayed a visit by US Deputy Defense Secretary Elbridge Colby pending Trump's decision on a $14 billion arms package for Taiwan. The Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the talks, that Beijing signaled it would approve Colby's summer visit only after Trump decides on the weapons sale. Trump said after his visit to Beijing last week he had not yet decided on the sale. On Wednesday, Trump announced he would speak with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te; Lai said on Thursday he looked forward to the conversation. A direct exchange would be a significant diplomatic step, as US and Taiwanese presidents have not spoken directly since 1979.