Tulsi Gabbard’s husband Abraham Williams has been by her side in some Instagram posts showing the two posing in a field and standing with the American flag. Their paths first crossed while Gabbard was campaigning in 2012 to join the House of Representatives.
Today, Williams has become the husband of the Director of National Intelligence.
Why It Matters
Gabbard has faced an uphill battle since being tapped for DNI and was grilled last week by senators on both sides of the aisle about her views on Russia and Syria and whether she believed the former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden was a “traitor.”
President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees have succeeded so far in being confirmed by the full Senate. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was cleared earlier to face the full floor vote, which has a chance to also happen on Wednesday.
What To Know
The couple has been married since 2015, but their history goes back further.
Before Williams met Gabbard, he was a volunteer in her 2012 run for a seat in the House of Representatives. His mother, Anya Anthony, also had managed Gabbard’s district office in Honolulu.
Williams was a photographer and took many of the snapshots used for Gabbard’s campaign. A year-and-a-half later, though, Williams worked up the nerve to ask Gabbard out on a date.
In a 2015 interview with New York Times, Gabbard revealed a mutual friend threw a birthday party for her, which led to the pair finally having a moment to “kick back, relax and really talk on a personal level.”
Ram Madhav, a spokesperson for RSS and BJP, was at Gabbard and Williams’ wedding in 2015.
Williams shares a love for an active life in the outdoors with his wife. Gabbard told the New York Times that the couple often went on hikes and took long walks while they were dating, and actually played a game of pickup volleyball on their first date. However, it was their love of the ocean that really brought them together.
The two now own property in Leander, Texas, according to documents reviewed by Newsweek.
Who Is Tulsi Gabbard
Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard. She was deployed twice to the Middle East, she was a representative of Hawaii, and she ran for president in 2020 as a Democrat.
She and her family are associated with the Science of Identity Foundation. Some from her religious group say they are concerned about Gabbard and how she was “groomed for a political position.” She took the oath of office in 2013 with her personal copy of the Bhagavad Gita.
Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to be Director of National Intelligence, greets her husband Abraham Williams as she arrives to testify during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
While in the National Guard, Gabbard received a Combat Medical Badge for “participation in combat operations under enemy hostile fire in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III.” She was also awarded the Meritorious Service Medal and the German Armed Forces Badge for Military Proficiency.
During her time in Congress, Gabbard stood against Islamic terrorism in the Middle East. She also opposed military intervention in the Syrian civil war, and Gabbard met with the Syrian president in 2017. She would often criticize the former President Barack Obama administration. Gabbard served on committees including homeland security, armed services, foreign affairs, and financial services.
Gabbard served in Congress as a Democrat. She was also the vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2013 to 2016. She ran for president as a Democrat as the first female combat veteran to run for the office. Gabbard then dropped out and endorsed former President Joe Biden.
After she left Congress in 2021, she took on more conservative positions on issues like abortion, LGBTQ rights and border security. On October 11, 2022, Gabbard announced on X, formerly Twitter, that she was leaving the Democratic Party, noting that it’s a part of “cowardly wokeness, anti-white racism, hostile to people of faith and spirituality and dragging us closer to nuclear war.” In August 2024, Gabbard endorsed Trump for the 2024 presidential election.
“It is hard for me to describe the level of selflessness that Tulsi embodies,” Wiliams wrote in the caption of an Instagram post in November. “To say she is not a politician is an understatement. She is a patriot who loves this country, who does what she does because she cares about people. I have seen this everyday of the almost 10 years we have been married.”
After a 52-48 vote in the Senate on Wednesday, Gabbard will now oversee and coordinate the work of America’s 18 intelligence agencies as the Director of National Intelligence. Gabbard became the first highest-ranking Pacific Islander American government official.
Gabbard has a narrow overall positive favorability rating among Americans, according to a survey conducted by Gallup at the end of January. The survey shows that 28 percent have a favorable view of the former Democratic representative, compared to 27 percent who have a negative view. An additional 46 percent of respondents said they do not have an opinion of Gabbard.
In an op-ed for Newsweek, Gabbard said that if confirmed as the director of national intelligence, she would do her best to fulfill Trump’s “mandate from the American people to break this cycle of failure, end the weaponization and politicization of the intelligence community (IC), and begin to restore trust in those who have been charged with the critical task of securing our nation.”
In her ethics agreement, filed on January 18, Gabbard said she would resign from her positions at one of her businesses, TOA Studios LLC, and transfer her entire interest to her husband
Who Voted Against Tulsi Gabbard
Former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) was the only Republican to vote “no” for Gabbard’s confirmation. McConnell, who is serving his seventh term and has not yet disclosed plans to run for reelection, also broke with Trump in voting “no” for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s nomination.
Initially, Republicans were skeptical of the former Democratic congresswoman and military veteran due to her past remarks perceived as sympathetic to Russia, a meeting with now-deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad, and her previous support for government leaker Edward Snowden. Her connections with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have also been questioned.
Republicans in the Senate Intelligence Committee had initially announced their concerns around Gabbard’s nomination. Senator Todd Young along with Senator Susan Collins had been regarded as a pivotal Republican swing vote on the committee for her DNI confirmation.
Young had told Politico that “extensive conversations” with Vice President JD Vance had led to his change of heart.
Who Is Tulsi Gabbard’s Ex-Husband, Eduardo Tamayo?
At 21, Gabbard married Eduardo Tamayo in 2002. The two divorced in 2006 due to “the stresses war places on military spouses and families,” as reported by Civil Beat.
Gabbard was deployed to Iraq in 2004 and 2005.
Does Tulsi Gabbard Have Children?
She does not.
During an episode of the Citizen McCain podcast, Gabbard said that multiple rounds of IVF treatment were hard for both her and her husband, who had to “just watch this heartbreak over and over again.”
The couple have said they were pausing the treatments.
