On Tuesday, Joe Kent resigned from his position as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, citing the Iran war and what he saw as Israel’s role in starting it. He left behind a resignation letter that’s been denounced as antisemitic by everyone from Jewish groups to Sen. Mitch McConnell.
“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” Kent wrote in the letter, which was addressed to the president directly, as quoted by Axios.
“I support the values and the foreign policies that you campaigned on in 2016, 2020, 2024, which you enacted in your first term. Until June of 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation.”
FOX NEWS: When was the last time Joe Kent saw President Trump?
LEAVITT: It has been a while. It’s been a while since the president has seen him here at the White House. It’s been a while since he’s been involved in the process of the presidential daily briefs. He wasn’t involved… pic.twitter.com/5X2O6T4gLk
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 18, 2026
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On Wednesday, the White House reacted to the resignation, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt disagreeing with the letter in a Fox News interview.
“I think the president views it as deeply unfortunate that this individual, who the president gave the privilege of working for the administration, put out this resignation on government letterhead with many falsehoods throughout,” Leavitt said on Wednesday. “Essentially accusing the president of being manipulated by foreign governments.”
Leavitt was not specific about what she claimed were the falsehoods. But she did say during the Fox interview that Kent had been out of the loop.
“It’s been a while since the president has seen him here at the White House,” Leavitt said. “It’s been a while since he’s been involved in the process of the presidential daily briefs, and he’s been actually present for the president’s intelligence briefings. This was an individual who was not involved in any of the discussion’s pre-operation and throughout this operation.”
