‘Hey, Hey! Pay Attention!’ Mark Levin Blows Up at Joe Kent for Accusing Him of Pushing Trump Into War
Mark Levin went off on former Trump administration official Joe Kent during a contentious radio interview on Monday.
Kent resigned as director of the National Counterterrorism Center last week over President Donald Trump’s ongoing war in Iran, stating that despite the administration’s claims, Iran “posed no imminent threat” to the U.S.
“I pray that you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for,” Kent wrote to the president. “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.”
Kent’s public resignation enraged Trump, who called him “weak” and questioned Kent for remarrying “fairly quickly” after his wife was killed in Syria while serving as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy. Last week, Semafor reported that Kent is under federal investigation for potentially sharing classified information, which he categorically denied on Monday’s edition of The Mark Levin Show. During the interview, Kent accused Levin, a longtime hawk on Iran, of having lobbied Trump to start the war.
“President Trump said, ‘No nuclear weapons,'” Kent said of the U.S. negotiations with Iran, which were derailed when the U.S. and Israel began bombing the country on Feb. 28. “And then, through official engagements, through the Israelis and then also the media echo chamber that won a regime change in Iran, said ‘No, no, we need to say that the Iranians can’t do enrichment and that–”
Levin cut Kent off, which led to this exchange, where the latter accused the host of pushing Trump toward war, which Levin disputed:
LEVIN: What about the media echo chamber your buddies, who didn’t want regime change in Iran? There’s a lot of echo chambers out there, wouldn’t you say?
KENT: It appears that your media echo chamber was much more successful.
LEVIN: No, it wasn’t. I never lobbied the president.
[CROSSTALK]
LEVIN: Hey, hey! Pay attention to me!
KENT: I can hear you.
LEVIN: I never lobbied the president. You guys keep putting that crap out there. I met with the president once at his request. And I said to the president, you ready for this, Joe? I said, “They’re telling– they’re saying out there that I’m lobbying you.” You know what he did? He laughed. You know what he said? “Mark. I know where you stand. I watch your show on Saturday and Sunday. Anything I say here–
KENT: So you can–
LEVIN: Pay attention–
KENT: You can lobby him on your show.
LEVIN: I did what?
KENT: You can lobby him by using the power of your show, the power of your–
LEVIN: Oh come on, brother, you’re not– you’re sounding almost ridiculous now.
Listen above via The Mark Levin Show.
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