WASHINGTON (AP) — Former counterterrorism chief Joe Kent, who resigned this week over concerns about war with Iran, said Wednesday that he and other senior officials skeptical of air strikes were “not allowed” to share those concerns with President Donald Trump.
Kent said on Tucker Carlson’s show that the president relied on a small group of advisers to make the decision to strike Iran. Kent claims Israel forced Trump to act, though he says there’s no evidence Iran poses imminent threat to U.S.
“A lot of key decision-makers are not allowed to come and express their opinions to the president,” Kent told the prominent conservative commentator. “There was no vigorous debate.”
Kent’s comments provided a glimpse into Trump’s decision to attack Iran on February 28 and highlighted the risk that the war could divide his political base. They also said there were concerns within the government about the strike.
As head of the National Counterterrorism Center, Kent oversees an agency responsible for analyzing and detecting terrorist threats. His work is overseen by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who said Wednesday that it is up to Trump — and Trump alone — to decide whether Iran poses a threat.
Gabbard, a veteran and former congresswoman from Hawaii, has previously criticized talk of military strikes against Iran. She did not comment on the current strike, and a spokesman declined to answer questions.
When asked by Carlson, Kent declined to say who blocked his access to Trump.
Kent said there is no intelligence that Iran is working to develop nuclear weapons and he believes Israel can pressure the United States into taking action by promising to act first, which could put U.S. interests in the region at risk. He said Israeli officials and U.S. media experts helped advance the argument that Iran was a threat.
“The Israelis drove the decision to take this action,” 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.
Kent, who has had ties to right-wing extremists, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials personally lobbied Trump, often providing information that U.S. officials could not corroborate. “When we heard what they were saying, it didn’t reflect the intelligence channels,” Kent said. His claim that the “Israel lobby” was behind Trump’s decision to go to war drew criticism from Jewish groups and others who said it amounted to anti-Semitism.
Kent chose to make his first public remarks since resigning during an appearance alongside Carlson, who has also been criticized for anti-Semitic comments.
Trump has offered evolving justifications for the attacks and pushed back against claims that Israel pressured the United States into taking action. On Tuesday, he rejected Kent’s criticism of the war and said he had always viewed Kent as “weak on security” and that if there were people in his administration who didn’t believe Iran was a threat, “we don’t want those people.”
“They’re not smart people, or they’re not savvy people,” Trump said. “Iran is a huge threat.”
The White House did not immediately respond to questions about Kent’s comments on Carlson’s show.
As a Green Beret, Kent served 11 combat deployments before retiring and joining the CIA. He also endured tragedy: His wife, a naval cryptographer, was killed by a suicide bomber in Syria in 2019, leaving behind two young sons. Kent, 45, later remarried.
Kent told Carlson he decided to resign after it became clear his concerns were ignored.
“I know we’re going down this path and it’s not going to work,” Kent said. “I can’t in good conscience be a part of it.”