A former top White House official suggested Tuesday that Joe Kent – the intelligence official who resigned in protest of the Iran war – was already on the chopping block before he posted his resignation letter on social media.
“Joe Kent is a crazed egomaniac who was often at the center of national security leaks, while rarely (never?) producing any actual work,” President Trump’s former deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich wrote on X.
“He spent all of his time working to subvert the chain of command and undermine the President of the United States,” Budowich alleged.
“This isn’t some principled resignation — he just wanted to make a splash before getting canned,” the former White House official charged. “What a loser.”
Budowich did not specify what Kent allegedly was involved in leaking.
Kent, an Army veteran and two-time Republican congressional candidate, posted his resignation letter on X, writing: “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.
Kent served as a key deputy to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who last year said she referred three individuals to the Justice Department for prosecution related to alleged leaks.
His wife Shannon died in a Jan. 16, 2019, ISIS suicide bombing while stationed in Syria.
“I always thought he was a nice guy,” Trump said of Kent after his resignation, “but I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security.”
The president called Kent’s departure “a good thing.”
