A week after resigning as director of the National Counterterrorism Center and publicly blasting the Trump administration over Operation Epic Fury, Joe Kent has been making the media rounds to defend his exit, leaning heavily on claims that Israel holds outsized influence over the president and that Iran posed no imminent threat to the United States.
Less than a week after appearing with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Kent sat down with Mark Levin for a more confrontational interview. Here’s how it went.
The pair debated whether Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, with Kent arguing that it did not. Critics of that view, however, contend it reflects a shallow approach to foreign policy, questioning why a threat should be confronted only when it becomes “imminent,” rather than when an adversary is in a weaker position and more vulnerable to decisive action.
🇺🇸 Joe Kent was calmly explaining that Iran never attacked the U.S. under Trump and that Israel started the escalation.
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 24, 2026
Mark Levin told him to slow down, turned up the background music, then cut to commercial...pic.twitter.com/7aKyhn3Azo https://t.co/TOakhWCL8m
🇺🇸🇮🇱Mark Levin got visibly heated when Joe Kent argued the Iran war is being driven by Israel and could end badly for the U.S.
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 24, 2026
Kent:
“I have a problem with Israel driving our foreign policy.”
Levin shot back that the claim was a conspiracy theory.pic.twitter.com/9bo72injLm https://t.co/mnpweelL7o
Levin and Kent also discussed speculation surrounding the assassination of conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk, with Kent and others suggesting possible foreign involvement in the killing. While Kent declined to name any specific country, figures like Candace Owens have been more explicit in pointing fingers, specifically at Israel.
Mark Levin: "[On] the murder of our friend Charlie Kirk…what do you think happened there?"
— Cesspool (@CesspoolOnline) March 24, 2026
Joe Kent: "What I know is that there were foreign leads that we didn't get the chance to look into, that we did not thoroughly investigate."
Levin: "You have a country in mind?"
Kent:… pic.twitter.com/mdYkv2feT0
The pair also discussed the FBI’s investigation into Kent, who was reportedly flagged within the administration as a potential leaker. He was barred from attending the president’s daily briefings and is suspected of passing information to several high-profile right-wing figures, including Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens.
This little snippet from Mark Levin’s interview of Joe Kent kind of sums up how it went (denies leaking and acts like the greatest President in history is too dumb to make the right decision for this country and is owned by Israel):
— Ally (@AllyJKiss) March 24, 2026
“I hope when you tell me you haven't leaked,… pic.twitter.com/0PWq74CTPp
Charlie Kirk’s executive producer and close friend, Andrew Kolvet, even suggested that Kent may have been the source who leaked some of Kirk’s text messages to Candace Owens, who has spent months using them to attack Turning Point USA and the Trump administration.
It’s hard to fathom how deeply the @TPUSA staff has been betrayed these past six months.
— Jackie Chea ⚖️ (@Fair_and_Biased) March 23, 2026
On the show today, @AndrewKolvet explains how he thought he could trust Joe Kent, shared Charlie’s group chat with him, & then the chat was leaked to millions by Candace:
“I was told I… pic.twitter.com/IPXgiOXMyq
Here’s Levin’s summary of the interview:
SOME OF THE KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM MY INTERVIEW WITH JOE KENT. I decided to provide this summary because the media have either ignored the interview or focused on more trivial bits of the interview without reporting on some of Kent's astonishing statements and misdirection. You can… https://t.co/q8ARBBWtVH
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) March 24, 2026
In the wake of Kent’s resignation and the ensuing media firestorm, he has grown noticeably more restrained, even walking back claims that Trump was beholden to high-level Israeli officials.
President Trump is working to get peace with Iran, if he can make this happen it will be a very good thing for our nation & our allies in the Gulf.
— Joe Kent (@joekent16jan19) March 23, 2026
The Israelis will be against this, but POTUS is strong & can get them on board.
