00:00In a shocking twist on the home front of the Iran war, one of Trump's top counterterrorism officials has called
00:06it quits,
00:07writing in a letter to the commander-in-chief that he could not, quote,
00:10in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran, and blamed Israel and its, quote,
00:15powerful American lobby for pressuring the U.S. to attack.
00:19The quitter, Joe Kent, who served as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center
00:23and was a key deputy to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard,
00:27posted his resignation letter on X.
00:30I support the values and the foreign policies that you campaigned on in 2016, 2020, 2024,
00:37which you enacted in your first term.
00:39Until June of 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap
00:44that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation.
00:50Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media
00:55deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform
01:01and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran.
01:04This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posted an imminent threat to the United States.
01:10And that should you strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory.
01:15This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war
01:21that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women.
01:25We cannot make this mistake again.
01:27Kent, an Army veteran and two-time Republican congressional candidate,
01:31went on to write that he couldn't support sending troops to fight and die in a war
01:35that served no benefit to the American people,
01:38referencing his wife Shannon, whom he claimed was killed in a war, quote,
01:41manufactured by Israel.
01:44According to the BBC, Shannon was a Navy technician who was killed in 2019
01:48during a suicide bombing in Syria.
01:51When asked about the resignation, Trump said that Kent was a, quote,
01:54nice guy, but weak on security.
01:57But when I read his statement, I realized that it's a good thing that he's out
02:01because he said that Iran was not a threat.
02:05Iran was a threat.
02:07Every country realized what a threat Iran was.
02:09The question is whether or not they wanted to do something about it.
02:12House Speaker Mike Johnson pushed back on Kent's claims
02:15that Iran didn't pose an imminent threat to the U.S.,
02:18saying during a press conference that Iran was, quote,
02:21very close to nuclear enrichment.
02:23Although a new Quinnipiac University poll shows 85% of Republicans back the Iran war,
02:29some conservatives have voiced their opposition to the attacks.
02:32Longtime skeptic of foreign interventionism, Senator Rand Paul,
02:35told Fox Business that Republicans were careening toward a, quote,
02:39disastrous midterm election cycle after the military campaign in Iran raged on.
02:44I think the 2026 elections, already we are behind the eight ball as far as the electoral process.
02:51I think if you add in high gas prices, high oil prices,
02:55and if we are still bombing Iran with kinetic action, people don't want to call it war,
03:01but if there's still kinetic action that causes oil to be over $100,
03:04I think you're going to see a disastrous election.
03:07Now three weeks into the war, the Trump administration has been coy about the timeline for the war,
03:12with the president telling Axios,
03:14anytime I want it to end, it will end.
03:16Trump has said that Iran is begging for an end to the war,
03:19but he's not ready to strike a deal with Tehran until they get serious about the proposed terms.
03:24Step 5
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