Tulsi Gabbard said her husband is making steady progress after undergoing major surgery to remove a rare bone cancer from his tailbone.
The former director of national intelligence stepped down from the Trump administration earlier this year to focus on Abraham Williams’ health battle.
In a video shared with CBS News, Gabbard said doctors discovered a sacral chordoma after Williams began suffering from back pain. The rare tumor was located on his tailbone.
A medical team later performed an eight-hour operation to remove the tumor. Several weeks after the surgery, doctors told the couple they were confident all cancerous bone and tissue had been successfully cut out.
Williams has since spent nearly three months in an intensive physical therapy program as he works to regain his strength and mobility.
“So here we are now, almost three months after he started a very rigorous physical therapy program. He gets frustrated a lot because he wants to be able to make progress faster, and sometimes he’s pushed a little bit too far,” she said.
Despite the encouraging update, Gabbard said her husband will require continued monitoring because of the risk that the cancer could return.
“Even as Abraham’s recovery continues, we’re going to have to keep a very close eye on this. He’ll have to continue to get frequent MRIs to keep an eye on whether or not this cancer is coming back, either in the same place or in other parts of his body,” she said in the video.
Tulsi Gabbard announced in May that she would leave her post effective June 30. President Donald Trump initially selected housing official Bill Pulte to replace her, setting off a fierce backlash on Capitol Hill.
Democrats refused to renew a key surveillance authority until the White House withdrew Pulte’s name. Trump then tapped Jay Clayton, who later secured Senate confirmation.
Before her departure, Gabbard launched a sweeping overhaul of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The “ODNI 2.0” initiative reduced or reassigned 40% of the agency’s staff while consolidating several offices and analytical operations.
Administration officials said the shake-up targeted bureaucratic bloat and made the intelligence agency more efficient. Critics countered that the restructuring weakened ODNI and returned greater influence to individual agencies, including the CIA.
