Gabbard Breaks Silence On Joe Kent’s Resignation, Says Trump Concluded ‘Iran Posed Imminent Threat’

Photo by Lenin Nolly/NurPhoto via AP

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday said President Donald Trump concluded Iran was an “imminent threat” based on information her department provided.

Hours earlier, Joe Kent — the director of the National Counterterrorism Center — announced his resignation in protest over the war in Iran. In a scathing letter criticizing Trump’s decision to attack the country, Kent insisted that Iran “posed no imminent threat to our nation.”

The White House quickly sought to discredit Kent’s comments, sharing a post that labeled him a “loser” and a “crazed egomaniac.”

Fox News White House correspondent Aishah Hasnie reported that a senior official told her the Trump administration had pushed Gabbard to fire Kent. Gabbard, Hasnie added, never fired him. Hasnie later added that a source from Gabbard’s office said that while the White House complained about him, Gabbard was never directly ordered to fire him.

Shortly after, The Daily Wire’s Mary Margaret Olohan, citing intelligence officials, reported that the White House did not ask Gabbard to fire Kent. Furthermore, Olohan’s sources said Gabbard would have done it if asked.

In her first public comments since Kent’s resignation, Gabbard refuted his assertion that Iran was not a threat, saying:

Donald Trump was overwhelmingly elected by the American people to be our President and Commander in Chief. As our Commander in Chief, he is responsible for determining what is and is not an imminent threat, and whether or not to take action he deems necessary to protect the safety and security of our troops, the American people and our country.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is responsible for helping coordinate and integrate all intelligence to provide the President and Commander in Chief with the best information available to inform his decisions.

After carefully reviewing all the information before him, President Trump concluded that the terrorist Islamist regime in Iran posed an imminent threat and he took action based on that conclusion.

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