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The FBI has opened an investigation into Joe Kent, the former Trump administration National Counterterrorism Center director who resigned from his position earlier this week in protest of the decision to go to war with Iran.
According to reporting from Semafor, which cited four sources with knowledge of the inquiry, Kent is being investigated over allegations that he improperly leaked classified information. The sources told the publication that the inquiry pre-dated Kent’s resignation, but the timing of this revelation — on top of the administration routinely using the Department of Justice (DOJ) to go after perceived enemies of President Donald Trump — raises doubts about the agency’s motivations.
The newly revealed investigation “adds to the scrutiny the Trump administration has faced for weaponizing federal law enforcement to target the president’s political enemies,” HuffPost’s Li Zhou pointed out.
In separate reporting following Semafor breaking the story, sources speaking to Axios said Kent — who previously served as Trump’s top counterterrorism official before his resignation — had leaked intelligence relating to Israel and Iran.
“He left quite an online paper trail and he has been monitored for months,” one source said.
That same source indicated that Kent would likely claim he’s being retaliated against based on his resignation. “But it’s the other way around,” that source insisted. “He quit because he’s under investigation, and he knew it.”
The two possibilities are not necessarily mutually exclusive, as it’s possible Kent could have resigned out of genuine disagreements over the war in Iran while also being the subject of an FBI investigation. It’s also possible that the administration has ordered officials to ramp up the inquiry in light of Kent’s departure.
In a discussion on his resignation with far right commentator Tucker Carlson, Kent predicted a retaliatory response from the administration.
“I understand the way I left and writing the [resignation] letter that there’s parts of this administration that are going to have to come after me and try and discredit me,” Kent said.
Following Kent’s resignation, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard claimed on X that intelligence did justify going to war with Iran. But her statement only led to more questions, as she said that Trump alone is “responsible for determining what is and is not an imminent threat.”
She made a similar comment during congressional testimony on Wednesday. Asked whether Iran posed an “imminent nuclear threat” before the war began, Gabbard refused to say under oath that it did, instead stating:
It is not the intelligence community’s responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat…the only person who can determine what is and is not an imminent threat is the president.
Gabbard’s remarks suggest that the administration is formulating policy first and justifying it later, rather than the president receiving advice first and then determining actions afterward.
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Georgia) rejected Gabbard’s explanation.
“It is precisely your responsibility to determine what consists of a threat to the United States,” Ossoff told the national intelligence director.
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