Even Chris Cuomo is now calling BS on the claims, including those from former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent, who in his public resignation letter Tuesday baselessly argued that the Trump administration was beholden to Israeli foreign policy positions.
Chris Cuomo says Joe Kent’s narrative that Israel forced President Trump into war with Iran collapses for what he claims is the most obvious reason — “If it were true, he’d be saying it right now.”
— Overton (@overton_news) March 18, 2026
CUOMO: “But I’ll tell you one thing…”
“I believe that we know this president… pic.twitter.com/fFbAzVwYtt
"I'll tell you one thing," Cuomo said. "I believe is that we know this president well enough if it were true. He'd be saying it right now. He'd be saying I shouldn't listen to Bibi."
"Boy, did he have this wrong," he said. "[Trump] is not slow to throw people under the bus if they lead him into a bad position. I can't get anyone around him other than the guy, Joe Kent, who just resigned, who gives that a shred of credibility that this president did anything in Iran that he didn't want to do."
Kent’s resignation has ignited a firestorm, as he invoked claims with little historical backing, such as the notion that Israel drove the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and made sweeping assertions about Israeli influence over the president with little to no evidence.
"I support the values and the foreign policies that you campaigned on in 2016, 2020, 2024, which you enacted in your first term," Kent wrote in his resignation letter. "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."
"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," he claimed.
"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."
After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today.
— Joe Kent (@joekent16jan19) March 17, 2026
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… pic.twitter.com/prtu86DpEr
Observers have questioned why Kent made those claims in his letter, noting that several of his positions appear to have shifted over the past year.
Joe Kent, meet Joe Kent.
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) March 17, 2026
January 2020, Kent posted: Trump's "red line is American loss of life & IR nuke development... I personally think we should have crushed their ballistic & nuke capes, but Trump has a plan, he has definitely earned the confidence of any clear eyed… https://t.co/yZG9KBHmC9 pic.twitter.com/OBys4NLerS
BREAKING: President Trump highlights Joe Kent’s post from 2020 where Kent said "We shouldn’t sit and wait for the next attack, wipe Iran’s ballistic capability out." https://t.co/GLyhi8BfBT pic.twitter.com/hbv6pExjFa
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) March 18, 2026
Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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