Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, the daughter-in-law of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is resigning from two of her three top intelligence jobs in the Trump administration—in part due to the Iran war.
Kennedy, the Washington Post reported, informed colleagues in a May 8 email that she would be stepping down as a deputy to Tulsi Gabbard at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and as an associate director at the Office of Management and Budget, where she oversaw classified intelligence budgets.
Kennedy’s resignation, effective Friday, was confirmed by five people familiar with the matter, one of whom told the Post that Kennedy was motivated to leave those two roles in part because she disagreed with Donald Trump’s war against Iran. The war is in its 12th week.
The news comes two months after Joe Kent resigned as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, citing the war. Like Kent, Kennedy told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in a pre-2024 election interview that she opposed a war with Iran.
In her email, though, Kennedy praised the president and did not mention the war, according to the Post.
“Being a mom is God’s greatest gift, and after two years on the campaign trail and a year serving in this extraordinary Administration, I have to make sure my family has all it needs,” she wrote, adding that she would be taking a private sector job.
A former undercover CIA officer for eight years, Kennedy also wrote that she intended to keep her third job in the Trump administration: a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.
Gabbard confirmed that in a statement to the Daily Beast.
“We are grateful to Amaryllis Fox Kennedy for her leadership and exceptional service as both the Deputy DNI for Policy and Capabilities and as Associate Director for Intelligence and International Affairs for OMB,” Gabbard said in part. “While Amaryllis will be leaving her positions at ODNI and OMB to spend more time with her young children, she will continue to support our nation’s Intelligence Community as a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.”
In a statement posted on X Wednesday, Kennedy denied that the move was due to Trump’s war, writing in part: “The Washington Post — who swamp-cheered their way through the last two decades’ disastrous and violent wars — speculated yesterday that perhaps I’m rejoining the private sector due to disagreement with the President’s foreign policy. Hogwash."
Reached for comment by the Daily Beast, OMB Communications Director Rachel Cauley said: “I regret to inform you you’re neither very bright nor a good journalist.”
Cauley, 40, has never had a job outside Republican politics after graduating college with a degree in public relations. She defended a Nazi sympathizer who sported a Hitler mustache, calling his Jan. 6 felony conviction by a jury "a clown trial." Cauley, who once worked for Mike Pence, previously thirsted over being White House Press Secretary. Despite lashing out at a reporter in personal terms, she has boasted about her Christian faith, even preaching to teenagers about it.
The Daily Beast has also contacted the White House for comment.
Kennedy, 45, is Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s daughter-in-law through her marriage to his eldest son, Robert F. Kennedy III. They married on Cape Cod in 2018, and in January 2019 had a daughter named Bobcat.
“She’s named for her father, grandfather and great grandfather, carrying their legacy into a future where women stand shoulder to shoulder with their fathers, brothers, and sons to do the work of love in the world,” her mother wrote on Instagram shortly thereafter.
The couple welcomed a son, Cassius Watts Thoreau Kennedy, in September 2021.
Kennedy also has a daughter, Zoe, from her previous marriage to a CIA officer.
Kennedy was her father-in-law’s presidential campaign manager from October 2023 until he endorsed Trump the following August.
