‘Insulting and Laughable’: Karoline Leavitt Shreds Joe Kent’s Allegations Against Trump

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shredded former National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent’s claims about President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

In a resignation letter addressed to Trump on Tuesday, Kent — who faced significant scrutiny over his affinity for conspiracy theories and affiliations with Jew haters during his confirmation process — wrote the following:

I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in 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.

I support the values and the foreign policies that you campaigned on in 2016, 2020, 2024, which you enacted in your first term. Until June of 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation.

In your first administration, you understood better than any modern President how to decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into never-ending wars. You demonstrated this by killing Qasam Solamani [sic] and by defeating ISIS.

Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran. This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory. This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women. We cannot make this mistake again.

As a veteran who deployed to combat 11 times and as a Gold Star husband who lost my beloved wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel, I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives.

I pray that you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for. The time for bold action is now. You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further toward decline and chaos. You hold the cards.

It was an honor to serve in your administration and to serve our great nation.

During a Wednesday morning gaggle with reporters outside of the White House, Leavitt was fielded questions about Kent:

REPORTER: A couple of questions on Joe Kent. The White House was warned last year when the president nominated Kent that he had a history of embracing conspiracy theories, that he had some ties to white nationalists. Given that, why did the president nominate him to the position-

LEAVITT: The president spoke on this a little bit yesterday in the Oval Office. He said he always thought Joe Kent was a good guy, obviously has a commendable military record and experience. However, he was not someone who was involved in the presidential daily brief, part of the president’s intelligence briefings over the last several months, have not seen him here at the White House for quite some time, and 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 it 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. The president is the leader of the most powerful country military in the world. Nobody tells him what to do. He makes decisions based on what’s in the best interest of this country.

REPORTER: Sorry, the president said yesterday that he always thought Kent was weak on security. Why would he name someone to run the counterterrorism center who he thought was weak on security?

LEAVITT: Again, I just told you 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 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. That’s what-, 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 the fact 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. And 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. Thank you.

Watch above via C-SPAN.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!