Daughter of RFK Jr. Says She Quit the Trump Administration Over CIA Spending Concerns, Including Gold Bullion

Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, a former CIA officer and senior Trump administration intelligence official, says she resigned last month because she could no longer sign off on intelligence spending she believed lacked proper oversight, including the movement of taxpayer-funded gold bullion.

Kennedy, the daughter-in-law of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., told The Wall Street Journal that her departure was driven in part by frustration with the intelligence community's handling of classified funds. "I couldn't keep signing the checks. I would have become complicit," she told the newspaper.

Kennedy held several powerful intelligence-related posts at the same time. She served as a deputy director of national intelligence, sat on the President's Intelligence Advisory Board and worked as an associate director at the Office of Management and Budget, where she had oversight over spending by the CIA and the rest of the 18-agency intelligence community.

Her public explanation marks a shift from earlier accounts of her resignation. In May, Kennedy said she was stepping back for family and financial reasons and denied reports that she was leaving because of disagreements over Trump's Iran policy.

The controversy comes as federal prosecutors pursue a separate case against former CIA official David Rush, who has been accused of stealing more than $40 million in gold bars from the government. According to court filings cited by several outlets, FBI agents found more than 300 gold bars, about $2 million in cash and dozens of luxury watches during searches connected to the investigation. Rush has been charged with criminal theft of public money, and the allegations remain subject to court proceedings.

Kennedy pointed to the Rush case as an example of what she described as a deeper oversight failure inside the intelligence bureaucracy. She said some intelligence work she saw was "brilliant" and worthy of public funding, but she also alleged that other activities were "broken and corrupt," while declining to provide details because of national security restrictions.

The CIA disputed Kennedy's characterization. A CIA spokeswoman told The Wall Street Journal that the agency keeps congressional oversight committees "fully and currently informed" about resources and expenditures.

The claims are difficult to independently verify because intelligence budgets and covert spending mechanisms are classified. Still, Kennedy's comments are politically explosive because they come from a former insider who had unusual access to both intelligence policy and budget oversight.

Her resignation also adds another layer of tension inside Trump's national security team. The Washington Post reported in May that her multiple simultaneous roles had already raised concerns among some current and former officials, while others described her as a close ally of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

Kennedy said she remains supportive of Trump and praised some administration officials for trying to reform what she described as the "weaponization" of intelligence agencies. Before the controversy, she appeared in different shows, including Tucker Carlson's, to defend his agenda.

But her central claim is stark: that no democratic government can function properly when agencies move money, cash or gold without what she considers meaningful oversight.

For now, the story rests on three separate tracks: Kennedy's whistleblower-style account, the CIA's denial that oversight is lacking and the criminal case against Rush. Together, they have opened a new public fight over one of Washington's most opaque corners: how America's spy agencies spend taxpayer money behind classified doors.