Trump Cabinet member accused of illegally voting

President Donald Trump's director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, cast a ballot in Hawaii, even though she had declared her state of residence as Texas and filed an under-oath certification of a homestead in Travis County, reported CNN — potentially running afoul of state voting laws.

"Gabbard’s attorneys said she applied for a homestead tax exemption, which Texas law only allows on a principal residence, because she 'took the advice of local officials' who told her it was required to shield her address from public view. Her office said she was facing a significant security threat," reported Casey Tolan, Isabelle Chapman, Anna-Maja Rappard, and Kyung Lah. "Gabbard’s representatives did not respond to questions about why she separately swore under oath that she was a Texas resident if she considered herself to still live in Hawaii, and did not provide a comment from her after repeated requests."

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“Director Gabbard was, is, and intends to remain a Hawaii resident,” said attorneys representing Gabbard in a cease-and-desist letter sent to CNN as reporters investigated this story. “That is where she lives, pays taxes, and, of course, votes.”

But legal experts have said Gabbard's actions raise questions about which state she lives in, which could either put her in violation of Hawaii voting laws or Texas tax laws.

“If she voted in Hawaii without actually living up to Hawaii’s eligibility standard, then that’s a problem,” said Loyola Marymount University election law professor and former Biden administration elections adviser Justin Levitt. “Alternatively, if she always meant to keep Hawaii as home, that could well be a problem for that Texas tax exemption.”

Furthermore, according to the report, "a 'Designation of Homestead' – the type of document Gabbard signed swearing that she was a Texas resident – isn’t required in order to get a homestead exemption or to be part of the confidentiality program, and Travis County Appraisal District spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said this document had “nothing to do with a homestead exemption,” leaving it uncertain why she filed it in the first place.

All of this has occurred as Gabbard has posted images of herself in Texas increasingly frequently since late in the 2024 election: "About halfway through 2024, Gabbard’s background on some of her frequent Fox News appearances changed from the slope of Oahu’s Diamond Head crater to a view of the Texas State Capitol building in Austin. And her social media posts have shown glimpses of her spending time in the Lone Star State, like videos she posted of herself at a shooting range and gym outside Austin."

Gabbard isn't the first Trump administration figure to face legal questions about where they voted.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. voted in New York even after previous court challenges that suggested he didn't actually live at the Westchester County address he listed. And earlier than that, Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who was central to plots to fabricating fake voter fraud pretext to overturn the 2020 election, faced a criminal investigation for voting in North Carolina from an address he didn't live at. The state attorney general ultimately concluded there wasn't enough evidence to prove he intentionally violated the law.