Karoline Leavitt was grilled about why Donald Trump chose Joe Kent to lead the National Counterterrorism Center after the president described him as ‘weak on security’ following his resignation
Leavitt raged over Joe Kent’s resignation letter(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Karoline Leavitt struggled to justify a glaring contradiction made by Donald Trump as she faced questions about the resignation of his counterterrorism chief amid escalating conflict in the Middle East.
Joe Kent, the now-former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced on Tuesday that he was quitting his role as he “cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran.”
In a resignation letter shared on social media, Kent claimed that “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.”
Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office later that day, Donald Trump said he always thought Kent was “weak on security” and if someone in his administration did not believe Iran was a threat, “we don’t want those people.”
READ MORE: Hegseth tells 13-year-old son American soldiers died so he won’t have to face nuclear IranREAD MORE: Families of fallen soldiers requested no cameras at service – Trump’s team made TikToks
The president’s response was quickly called out for being contradictory, as many began questioning why Trump would put an individual he thought was “weak on security” in charge of the organization responsible for national and international counterterrorism efforts.
“Why would he name someone to run the counterterrorism center who he thought was weak on security?” White House Press Secretary Leavitt was asked on Wednesday as she was grilled about the president’s remarks.
Leavitt struggled to offer a sensible answer, suggesting the president was merely giving Kent “a chance” when he assigned him to a role responsible for the safety of the American people.
“The president gave Joe Kent a chance, he thought he was a good guy with good military experience and unfortunately he proved he was not up for the job,” Leavitt said.
She went on to claim that Kent’s resignation letter was “riddled with lies”. Leavitt told reporters: “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, that’s another falsehood he said in his letter of resignation which is just unequivocally false.”
“It’s backed by intelligence, it’s backed by the fact that Iran was building ballistic missiles at a rapid rate to build a shield of immunity so they could build a nuclear bomb, and it’s backed by the face that the president of the United States made the decision to attack Iran before they could attack American troops and our assets and bases in the region,” she said, defending Trump’s decision to launch joint strikes with Israel against Iran.
“That was of course a good decision, not just for the United States but for the rest of the world. It should be commended, it should not be degraded in the form of a resignation letter that’s riddled with lies,” Leavitt concluded.
