Following Joe Kent’s recent resignation in protest of the Iran war, Karoline Leavitt says that President Donald Trump thought he was a “good guy.” The White House press secretary defended Trump. They rebuked Kent’s claim that the Israeli government pressured the US into starting the war.
Karoline Leavitt talks about Joe Kent and Donald Trump
Joe Kent recently made headlines after stepping down as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center on March 17. In his resignation letter, he stated that he cannot, in “good conscience,” support the US and Israel’s war with 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,” Kent further claimed.
In response, Trump has since denied Kent’s claims, stating, “I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security. I didn’t know him well, but he seemed like a pretty nice guy.” The President added, “It’s a good thing that he’s out because he said Iran was not a threat.”
Most recently, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed Kent’s resignation. She stated that it was “riddled with lies” about the president’s military campaign against Iran.
“The president feels it’s deeply disappointing that after the president gave him an opportunity in this administration to serve the American people, that he would resign with a letter filled with falsehoods, accusing the president of the United States by being controlled by a foreign country — that’s both insulting and laughable all at the same time,” Leavitt said outside the White House on Wednesday.
She continued, “The president is the leader of the most powerful country [and] military in the world. Nobody tells him what to do. The president’s decisions [are] based on what’s in the best interest of this country.”
When asked why Trump chose Kent to helm the counterterrorism organization if he deemed him weak, Leavitt explained it. He said, “The president gave Joe Kent a chance.” She added that the President “thought he was a good guy with good military experience, and unfortunately, he proved he was not up for the job. And we don’t want somebody leading the Counterterrorism Task Force who cannot agree that the number one state sponsor of terror in this world did not pose a threat to the United States.”
