Trump appointee and top counterterrorism chief Joe Kent resigns, claiming US was pressured into Iran War by ‘Israel & its powerful lobby’
Kent claims Trump was ‘deceived’, blames Israel for death of his wife in ISIS attack
Joe Kent, leader of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, announced his resignation on Tuesday, blaming Israeli pressure for having dragged the U.S. into the war against Iran.
He is the first senior Trump administration official to resign over the war. Kent explained on 𝕏 that he decided to resign from his position “after much reflection.”
“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,” he said.
After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today.
— Joe Kent (@joekent16jan19) March 17, 2026
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… pic.twitter.com/prtu86DpEr
In his resignation letter, Kent, a veteran of the Iraq War, accused Israel of having “deployed a misinformation campaign” to drag the U.S. into war, and also blamed Israel for the death of his wife Shannon in an ISIS attack in Syria in 2019, saying she died “in a war manufactured by Israel.”
Kent also directly attacked the president, writing, “In your first administration, you understood better than any modern President how to decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into never-ending wars.”
However, he claimed that during this administration, the “misinformation campaign” by “high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media… wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran.”
Shortly after, Speaker of Congress, Mike Johnson, responded to Kent’s claims by saying, “We all understood there was clearly an imminent threat that Iran was very close to the enrichment of nuclear capability ... I don't know where Joe Kent is getting his information ... the president felt he had to strike first to prevent mass casualties.”
Mike Johnson: "We all understood there was clearly an imminent threat that Iran was very close to the enrichment of nuclear capability ... I don't know where Joe Kent is getting his information ... the president felt he had to strike first to prevent mass casualties" pic.twitter.com/r9VgPqfW8Y
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 17, 2026
Kent said Trump was “deceived” into believing the Iranian regime was a danger to the U.S. by this “echo chamber,” ignoring the president’s consistent position toward the regime that goes back to 1980.
He also said it was “a lie” that there is a “clear path to a swift victory” over the regime, and the “same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war.”
Kent was not known as a vocal opponent of Israel. However, there were some concerns over his ties to the "America First" camp of Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and other radical figures before his nomination.
Kent’s letter drew swift support from his friend and prominent anti-Israel activist, Tucker Carlson, who told the New York Times he “can’t be dismissed as a nut.”
“He’s leaving a job that gave him access to highest-level relevant intelligence. The neocons will now try to destroy him for that. He understands that and did it anyway,” Carlson said.
Taylor Budowich, a former Deputy White House Chief of Staff and Cabinet Secretary, wrote on 𝕏 that Kent “is a crazed egomaniac who was often at the center of national security leaks, while rarely (never?) producing any actual work. He spent all of his time working to subvert the chain of command and undermine the President of the United States. This isn’t some principled resignation—he just wanted to make a splash before getting canned. What a loser.”
The former Army Green Beret and CIA paramilitary officer was approved as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center in a narrow, largely party-line vote last year.
In 2022, Kent said he had talked to avowed Nazi supporter Nick Fuentes about helping his social media strategy, while denying any knowledge of his racist and antisemitic activism.
During an unsuccessful primary for Congress that year, he said his GOP opponent, former Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA), who received contributions from AIPAC, “owes a foreign country, not her constituents.”
“AIPAC is a pro Israel lobby, I am pro Israel, they are a great ally, but taking their $ puts their interests ahead of ours,” he wrote on 𝕏.
Ahead of his confirmation as chief of the National Counterterrorism Center, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), an outspoken Republican critic of President Trump, compared Kent to Michael Flynn, a former Trump national security advisor, adding that “This guy is, I’m not going to say neo-Nazi, but as close as you can get to that without being labeled that is about what he is.”
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
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