Top counterterrorism official leaving Trump administration over Iran war

Joe Kent, a former congressional candidate from southwest Washington, is leaving position as the Trump administration’s top counterterrorism officialsaying he opposes the war in Iran.

“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran” – Kent – he wrote on social media early Tuesday. “Iran posed no immediate threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war under pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

Kent, whose nomination was confirmed last July, goes on to say that he supported President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy agenda, which balked at intervening in the Middle East.

In response to Kent’s departure, Trump he told reporters on Tuesday that he “always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he had poor security.”

“It’s good that he’s gone because he said Iran was not a threat,” Trump said in the Oval Office.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also sharply criticized Kent’s allegations that Israel pressured Trump, calling them “absurd.”

“As President Trump has stated clearly and clearly, he had strong and convincing evidence that Iran intended to attack the United States first” – Leavitt wrote on X.

“As someone who witnesses President Trump’s decision-making every day, I can attest that he always strives to do what is in the best interest of the United States of America — period,” she continued.

Kent was confirmed last July as director of the National Anti-Terrorism Center. His resignation is effective immediately. His decision marks a high-profile departure from the Trump administration amid the ongoing conflict in Iran that began overdue last month.

The administration announced over the weekend that the first U.S. service member from Washington had died during the war in a tanker crash in Iraq.

In his position, Kent oversaw more than 1,000 employees and reported to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. His agency was established in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Both Democratic senators in Washington strongly opposed his nomination. At the time, U.S. Senator Patty Murray called him “clearly unqualified.”

In Post X on Tuesdayshe said, “Goodbye to Joe Kent, a disgraceful white supremacist, but this is a major public admission that there was NO justification for this war.”

Kent’s stance against foreign intervention stems from his own experience serving as a former Green Beret on more than a dozen tours of duty, mostly in Iraq. His wife Shannon was killed in a suicide bombing in Syria in 2019.

After his wife’s death, he became involved in politics, running twice for Congress Washington’s Third Congressional District and adopting Trump’s agenda.

In his first race, Kent, who lived in Clark County, ousted incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler in the primary. However, on both occasions he lost to Democratic Rep. in the general election. USA Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.

Kent previously served as a foreign policy adviser to Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign.

Since Kent joined his administration, he has been in heated water.

Last year, he was one of the members of a Signal group chat in which top officials reportedly shared classified information about military plans in Yemen, and a journalist also participated in the chat.

He too reportedly pressured by intelligence analysts revising the assessment documenting links between the Venezuelan government and the Tren de Aragua gang to better align it with Trump’s policies.

“I cannot support sending the next generation to fight and die in a war that does not serve the American people or justify the cost of American lives,” Kent wrote in his resignation letter to Trump.

In his letter, Kent implored Trump to change his approach, writing that “you hold the cards.”

“I pray that you will consider what we are doing in Iran and who we are doing it for,” Kent wrote. “It’s time for bold action.”