Who is Joe Kent, the counterterrorism official who resigned over the Iran war?

Geoff Bennett:

We turn now to our White House correspondent, Liz Landers, for more on the political context to all of this.

All right, Liz, so tell us more about Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, who resigned today in protest.

Liz Landers:

Yes.

Well, with his background as a Green Beret and a former CIA official, he has both this military and intelligence background, but he really represents sort of the MAGA portion of this administration who is anti-war. And that is what we saw today in these comments from him.

He has a close relationship with Tucker Carlson, who we've mentioned previously has been critical of this war in Iran since it started. He's also a close ally of Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence. She herself has been quite anti-war in the past. When she ran as a Democratic candidate in 2020, she ran really on that platform, no more foreign wars and interventions.

I remember seeing him at her confirmation hearings last year on Capitol Hill as a close friend of hers. She responded today, it seemed, to his comments that Iran posed no imminent threats. And these are the first comments that we've seen from her about the war since it started.

She said: "President Trump concluded that the terrorist Islamist regime in Iran posed an imminent threat, and he took action based on that conclusion."

Geoff, she testifies tomorrow on Capitol Hill. I am sure that she will be asked about both Kent's resignation and also these comments about Iran.

Geoff Bennett:

Yes.

Kent, we should note, had some extremist associations? Tell us more about that.

Liz Landers:

During the confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill last year, both the ADL, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Southern Poverty Law Center were urging members of Congress not to confirm him because of these extremist links of his in the past.

Today, we heard from Congressman Don Bacon online, who quipped "Good riddance" and accused Kent of antisemitism. The Anti-Defamation League said again today that Kent has a -- quote -- "history of antisemitism and extremism, so it's no surprise that he would blame Israel and the media" in that resignation letter.

The Associated Press has covered some of Kent's extremism links in the past. He has held calls. He held a call with Nick Fuentes, who is a Holocaust denier. He later denounced Fuentes, but that's just one example of a very extreme figure that he has links to from the past.

Geoff Bennett:

Liz Landers, thank you for that reporting. We appreciate it.