Joe Kent, who resigned as director of the National Counterterrorism Center this week, disputed the FBI investigation into his alleged attempts to leak classified information on the latest episode of The Megyn Kelly Show.
After Kent resigned on Tuesday over his opposition to the Iran war, news reports said he had been under investigation for months before his departure. The former Trump official said he’s not worried about the leak allegations.
“I’m not concerned because I know I did nothing wrong,” Kent told Kelly. “Of course, I am concerned because we’ve all seen the FBI and the full weight of the government come down on individuals who speak out. So that has me a little bit concerned, but I know the truth and the facts are on my side.”
“I think the important issues to address are what’s at hand, why we’re at war, and how we get out of the state that we’re in right now,” he argued.
Since he quit, there has been online speculation that Kent may have leaked Mark Levin’s private June 2025 meeting with President Donald Trump about Iran and a group chat that showed Charlie Kirk expressing frustration with Jewish donors before his assassination in September 2025.
When asked if he leaked any information in either instance, Kent firmly denied the accusations.
Also, he distinguished between leaking “actual top secret information and then leaking almost palace intrigue of who’s meeting with who.”
Around the time that news of the FBI investigation was released, Kent went on The Tucker Carlson Show, where he further explained his reservations about the Iran conflict.
The national security expert believes the timing of reports on the investigation is part of a “counternarrative” against him as he goes on different podcasts with conservative figures.
“They’ll kind of tease out different salacious details of a leak or an investigation. I think it’s mostly a media game,” he said, claiming the Trump administration is “trying to intimidate” him for speaking out against the Iran war.
In his resignation letter, Kent alleged Iran “posed no imminent threat” to the United States and that Israel may have played a role in pushing Trump to strike the Islamic regime.
FBI INVESTIGATING TRUMP OFFICIAL WHO RESIGNED OVER IRAN WAR: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT JOE KENT
As a result of that theory, Kent has been accused by Republican lawmakers of propagating antisemitism. He called the ad hominem attacks “fairly laughable” and argued they don’t want to discuss the main point for his resignation.
The former counterterrorism director attributed his distaste for the foreign war to his first wife’s death. Shannon Kent was killed in an ISIS suicide bombing in Syria in January 2019. He said she was killed in a “war manufactured by Israel” and that he doesn’t want to see more U.S. service members lose their lives abroad. At least 13 U.S. troops have been killed since the conflict began.
