Counterterrorism chief says it wasn’t

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Kent, the former counterterrorism chief who resigned this week over concerns about the Iran war, said Wednesday that he and other top officials with questions about the airstrikes “were not allowed” to share them with President Donald Trump.

Speaking on the Tucker Carlson show, Kent said the president relied on a small circle of advisors in making his decision to attack Iran. Kent claimed that Israel forced Trump even though he said there was no evidence that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States.

“Many key decision makers were not allowed to come and express their opinion to the president,” Kent told the prominent conservative commentator. “There was no solid debate.”

Kent’s comments offer an inside look at Trump’s decision to attack Iran on February 28 and underscore the risk that the war could divide his political base. They also suggest there was concern about strikes within the administration.

As head of the National Counterterrorism Center, Kent was in charge of an agency tasked with analyzing and detecting terrorist threats. Their work was overseen by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who on Wednesday said it was up to Trump – and Trump alone – to decide whether Iran posed a threat.

Gabbard, a veteran and former congresswoman from Hawaii, has previously criticized rumors about military strikes in Iran. He has not said what he thinks about the current strikes and a spokesman has refused to answer questions.

Kent declined to say who blocked his access to Trump when Carlson asked.

Kent said no intelligence suggested Iran was working to develop nuclear weapons, and he believes Israel was able to force the United States to act by promising to act first, potentially putting American interests in the region at risk. He said Israeli officials and American media experts helped argue that Iran was a threat.

“The decision to take this action was driven by the Israelis,” Kent told Carlson. He cited comments from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and House Speaker Mike Johnson suggesting that Israel’s plans prompted the United States to take action.

Tom Williams via Getty Images

Kent, who has previous connections to right-wing extremists, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials personally pressured Trump, often with information that U.S. officials could not confirm. “When we listened to what they were saying, it didn’t reflect intelligence channels,” Kent said. His claim that an “Israeli lobby” was behind Trump’s decision to launch the war has drawn criticism from Jewish groups and others who said it amounted to anti-Semitism.

Kent decided to make his first public comments since his resignation during an appearance with Carlson, who has also faced criticism for his rhetoric considered anti-Semitic.

Trump has offered shifting reasons for the attacks and rejected claims that Israel forced the United States to act. On Tuesday he rejected Kent’s criticism of the war, saying he always thought Kent was “weak on security” and that if anyone in his administration didn’t believe Iran was a threat, “we don’t want those people.”

“They’re not smart people or they’re not smart people,” Trump said. “Iran was a tremendous threat.”

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about Kent’s comments on Carlson’s show.

As a Green Beret, Kent saw combat in 11 deployments before retiring to join the CIA. He also endured tragedy: His wife, a Navy cryptologist, was killed by a suicide bomber in 2019 in Syria, leaving him with two young children. Kent, 45, has since remarried.

Kent told Carlson that he decided to resign when it became clear that his concerns would be ignored.

“I know this path we’re on isn’t working,” Kent said, saying he determined, “I can’t in good conscience be a part of this.”