Top Dem Destroys Trump Honcho Who Resigned Over War in Blistering Barrage on Nazi Stuff

Congressman Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), the outspoken ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, slammed former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent, who resigned his Trump administration post in protest of the Iran war on Tuesday, over his history of “extremism” and associating with “Nazi sympathizers.”

Kent quit his post in a scathing letter that refuted the rationale for the war but was also shot through with anti-Israel sentiment.

“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,” Kent wrote, echoing many of the MAGA personalities who have split with President Donald Trump on the war.

Kent was confirmed in July by a straight party-line vote, with every Democrat voting “no.”

Rep. Moskowitz was a guest on Tuesday’s edition of CNN’s The Situation Room, during which anchor Wolf Blitzer asked about the resignation.

Moskowitz slammed Kent for his appearance on what he described as “a Nazi sympathizer’s podcast,” and for running a “racist and Islamophobic” congressional campaign, and said he’s the wrong messenger to be elevated:

WOLF BLITZER: Sensitive issue that just came up today. President Trump’s now former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, has just resigned publicly saying, and I’m quoting him now, “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.” How do you respond to that?

REPRESENTATIVE JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): I don’t care what Joe Kent says right Democrats opposed Joe Kent getting that position Joe was-

WOLF BLITZER: He was confirmed by the Senate.

REPRESENTATIVE JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): He may have been confirmed by the Senate, he wasn’t confirmed by Democrats, he was confirmed by Republicans, okay?

This is a guy who went on Nazi Sympathizer podcast, you know, this is someone who has espoused pro-Kremlin, talking points, thinks that, you now, Putin had some justification to go into Ukraine.

You know, he said Anthony Fauci should be charged with murder. He’s not exactly the messenger here that I think we should be putting up, even if you agree with some of his points in the letter.

So I’m glad he’s gone. You know he should never have gotten that position, quite frankly. He ran in a very extreme campaign with, you know, racist, Islamophobic sort of language when he ran for Congress, when he lost, which is why he wound up in the administration.

But look, I think… If you look at the evidence, you look at the briefings Congress has gotten, they’ve not been able to make the case that there was this imminent threat immediately to the United States from Iran.

Obviously, we want to get rid of the nuclear program. That’s been the United States’ policy for decades, trying to get the rid of nuclear program, but they’ve not made the case why they had to go.

We’ve heard, well, they were trying to create a ballistic missile shield and they were on their way. Look, they should have been clearer with the American people why the president felt he needed to go there.

But look, I voted for the war powers resolution in Congress. This is clearly a war. It clearly needed to come to Congress for a vote, and that’s why I voted for that.

WOLF BLITZER: He did put out a statement disavowing any connections to extremism.

REPRESENTATIVE JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): Who did? Joe Kent?

WOLF BLITZER: Yeah.

REPRESENTATIVE JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): Okay, great. You know, he said he met this guy on the street. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, well if– you and I have not wound up on a Nazi sympathizer podcast, right? It’s not something that accidentally happens Okay, he’s an extremist. He’s had links to the Proud Boys.

This is this is not a guy that Democrats want to associate with.

I know that like lately what’s happening is there are people in the MAGA movement like Marjorie Taylor Greene that come out and say things that we now like.

But I think the messenger kind of matters. Like these are people with decades of history of dividing America, you know saying all sorts of extreme positions to you know to appeal to the most extreme in our society.

And so I’m actually happy Joe Kent is gone Even if we agree with some points in his letter

WOLF BLITZER: And you remember when he was running for Congress, you came out against him, even though you’re not in the Senate, you couldn’t vote against this confirmation, but you came out against him.

REPRESENTATIVE JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): Oh, yeah, and so did most of the Democratic Party. We were on the record with Joe Kent because we saw what his congressional campaign was like, right, and we saw the things that he was doing in order to get elected to Congress.

He ran one of the most extreme congressional races. It’s why he lost the Trump district. He was a Republican running in a Trump district, and the Trump district decided he was too extreme for them and elected a Democrat.

Watch above via CNN’s The Situation Room.

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