A top aide to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Joe Kent, rocked Washington D.C. Tuesday by announcing he was quitting his position as director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) amid policy differences with the Trump administration — specifically, its decision to neutralize Iran with Operation Epic Fury.
He claimed in his resignation letter that Trump ordered the mission “due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was not pleased with his assertions, and she fired back with a long social media post saying that he was using the same talking points as the “Democrats and some in the liberal media”:
There are many false claims in this letter but let me address one specifically: that "Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation."
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) March 17, 2026
This is the same false claim that Democrats and some in the liberal media have been repeating over and over.
As President Trump has clearly and… https://t.co/AC8M5L8lye
As President Trump has clearly and explicitly stated, he had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first.
MORE: Top Aide to Tulsi Gabbard Resigns in Explosive Letter, Blames Israel for 'Iran War'
Trump Responds to Kent's Resignation: 'It's a Good Thing That He's Out'
Kent is an Army veteran who served from 1998 to 2018 and was deployed in combat 11 times, primarily in Iraq. His first wife, meanwhile, was killed in 2019 by an ISIS suicide bombing in Syria while serving as a Navy cryptologic technician. In his military capacity, he was an American hero.
That doesn’t mean his understanding of the current conflict is correct, though, according to Leavitt. Iran was a clear and present danger to the nation, she argued, despite the Left’s arguments that they posed no imminent threat:
There are many false claims in this letter but let me address one specifically: that "Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation."
This is the same false claim that Democrats and some in the liberal media have been repeating over and over.
As President Trump has clearly and explicitly stated, he had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first.
This evidence was compiled from many sources and factors. President Trump would never make the decision to deploy military assets against a foreign adversary in a vacuum.
Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.
She continued, detailing the atrocities of the Iranian regime, their hell-bent quest to obtain a nuclear weapon, their aggressive expansion of their short-range ballistic missile supply that would give them the capacity to “hold us and the rest of the world hostage,” and their refusal to negotiate honestly with Trump.
Those reasons and more are why the president chose his course of action — not because Israel told him to, she wrote:
All of this led to President Trump arriving at the determination that this military operation was necessary for U.S. national security, which is why he launched the massively successful Operation Epic Fury.
[…]
And finally, the absurd allegation that President Trump made this decision based on the influence of others, even foreign countries, is both insulting and laughable. President Trump has been remarkably consistent and has said for DECADES that Iran can NEVER possess a nuclear weapon.
As someone who actually witnesses President Trump’s decision-making process on a daily basis, I can attest to the fact that he is always looking to do what’s in the best interest of the United States of America — period.
America First.
Joe Kent served his country admirably in the Army, but Leavitt has a compelling argument here on how he’s misguided in his thinking.
Fox News’ Senior White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich reported Tuesday that he may have soon been out the door anyway:
Senior admin official says Joe Kent was “a known leaker” - and was cut out of POTUS intelligence briefings months ago. He has not been part of any Iran planning discussions or briefings at all.
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) March 17, 2026
Official says also the White House told DNI Gabbard Kent should be fired for…
Official says also the White House told DNI Gabbard Kent should be fired for suspected leaks, but she never did.
Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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