WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Joe Kent, President Trump’s decide to guide the Nationwide Counterterrorism Middle, as Republicans appeared previous his connections to right-wing extremists and assist for conspiracy theories concerning the Jan. 6 riot on the U.S. Capitol.
Kent gained affirmation on a 52-44 vote tally, with Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina casting the one Republican nay vote. Kent had already been working for Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. As the top of the Nationwide Counterterrorism Middle, he’ll oversee an company tasked with analyzing and detecting terrorist threats.
Washington third Congressional District Republican candidate Joe Kent speaks throughout a debate at KATU studios on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photograph/Jenny Kane, File)
Within the position, Kent plans to commit company assets to focusing on Latin American gangs and different felony teams tied to migration. He’s the most recent Trump loyalist to win Senate affirmation to the higher echelons of U.S. nationwide safety management at a time when Trump is stretching his presidential wartime powers to perform his objectives.
“President Trump is committed to identifying these cartels and these violent gang members and making sure that we locate them and that we get them out of our country,” Kent stated at his affirmation listening to earlier than the Senate Intelligence Committee in April.
Kent enters the highest position on the counterterrorism heart after two unsuccessful campaigns for Congress in Washington State, in addition to a navy profession that noticed him deployed 11 occasions as a Inexperienced Beret, adopted by work on the CIA. His first spouse, a Navy cryptologist, was killed by a suicide bomber in 2019 whereas preventing the Islamic State group in Syria.
But Democrats strongly opposed his affirmation, pointing to his previous ties to far-right figures and conspiracy theories. Throughout his 2022 congressional marketing campaign, Kent paid Graham Jorgensen, a member of the far-right navy group the Proud Boys, for consulting work. He additionally labored carefully with Joey Gibson, the founding father of the Christian nationalist group Patriot Prayer, and attracted assist from quite a lot of far-right figures.
Throughout his Senate affirmation listening to, Kent additionally refused to distance himself from a conspiracy principle that federal brokers had in some way instigated the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, in addition to false claims that Trump gained the 2020 election over President Joe Biden.
Democrats grilled him on his participation in a gaggle chat on Sign that was utilized by Trump’s nationwide safety workforce to debate delicate navy plans.
Additionally they raised grave considerations over a current incident the place Kent, as Gabbard’s chief of employees, informed an intelligence analyst to edit an evaluation of the connection between the Venezuelan authorities and a transnational gang. The revisions supported Trump’s assertions that members of the gang may very well be eliminated below the Alien Enemies Act — a wartime provision.
Democrats stated it confirmed Kent can’t be trusted to deal with a number of the nation’s most vital and delicate intelligence.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the highest Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, stated any counterterrorism director “must be trusted to tell the truth and to uphold the core principles of the intelligence community: Objectivity, nonpartisanship and fidelity to fact.”
“Unfortunately, Mr. Kent has shown time and again that he cannot meet the standard,” Warner added.
Nonetheless, Republicans have praised his counterterrorism {qualifications}, pointing to his navy and intelligence expertise.
Sen. Tom Cotton, the GOP chair of the intelligence committee, stated in a flooring speech that Kent “has dedicated his career to fighting terrorism and keeping Americans safe.”
Initially Revealed: July 30, 2025 at 6:52 PM EDT
