Before Donald Trump’s top spy chief submitted his stunning resignation over the Iran war, he had secretly confided his plans to his closest political ally, JD Vance.
Joe Kent quit as Trump’s director of the National Counterterrorism Center on Tuesday in protest over the Iran war, accusing Israel of pressuring the US into a conflict he says was built on lies.
Kent, a close political ally of Vance and Tulsi Gabbard, presented his resignation letter to the Vice President 24 hours before dramatically stepping down from the administration.
‘The VP encouraged him to speak to White House chief of staff and Trump before making any final decisions,’ said a White House official. ‘The VP encouraged him to be respectful to POTUS.’
Following the meeting, Kent issued a blistering resignation that claimed Trump was tricked into striking Iran ‘due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,’ adding: ‘I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war.’
Kent accused the President of reneging on the non-interventionist principles he campaigned on.
Gabbard was present during Kent’s in-person resignation to Vance, according to the Washington Post.
It is unclear if Vance warned other members of the administration about Kent’s plan to discredit Trump’s war during his resignation.
Joe Kent quit as Trump’s director of the National Counterterrorism Center on Tuesday in protest over the Iran war
Kent accused the President of reneging on the non-interventionist principles he campaigned on
Gabbard was present during Kent’s in-person resignation to Vance,
It is unclear if Vance warned other members of the administration about Kent’s plan to discredit Trump’s war during his resignation
The Daily Mail has contacted the Vice President’s office for comment.
Trump welcomed Kent’s resignation while speaking to reporters inside the Oval Office shortly after the dramatic announcement.
‘When I read his statement I realized that it’s a good thing that he’s out because he said that Iran was not a threat. Iran was a threat – every country realized what a threat Iran was,’ the President insisted.
‘When somebody is working with us that says they didn’t think Iran is a threat – we don’t want those people.’
Kent, who deployed to combat 11 times and lost his wife Shannon in what he calls a war manufactured by Israel, is closely aligned with the populist ‘America First’ wing of the Trump administration, including Gabbard and Vance, who have both warned against new Middle East entanglements.
His resignation lays bare a widening split inside Trumpworld. Kent accused high-ranking Israeli officials and members of the American media of running a ‘misinformation campaign’ to deceive the President into believing Iran posed an imminent threat, drawing a direct parallel to the lead-up to the Iraq war.
The divide pits the Gabbard-Vance non-interventionist faction against hawkish Republicans who back US support for Israel and a harder line on Tehran.
Gas prices have surged to an average of $3.80 a gallon from $2.90 before the conflict began three weeks ago, while the narrow strait – through which a fifth of the world’s oil flows – remains blocked by the threat of Iranian mines and missiles.
Kent, who deployed to combat 11 times and lost his wife Shannon in what he calls a war manufactured by Israel
Iran retaliated to the US and Israeli strikes with a barrage of missiles at neighboring nations – some of which broke through air defense systems (seen in Dubai)
The resignation drew immediate praise from prominent ‘America First’ voices. Marjorie Taylor Greene called Kent ‘a great American hero,’ while Candace Owens went further, declaring Trump ‘a shameful President’ and calling on US troops to explore conscientious objection, calling Kent a ‘patriot’.
Not everyone was impressed, Speaker Mike Johnson was asked about Kent’s accusations that the US launched the war against Iran because of Israel.
Johnson again repeated the Trump administration’s claim that there was an immediate threat from Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon. Trump claimed last summer that the US had obliterated Iran’s nuclear program.