Mitch McConnell Nukes Joe Kent, Accuses Him of ‘Virulent Anti-Semitism’

FILE – Joe Kent speaks during a congressional debate at KATU studios Oct. 7, 2024, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) pulled no punches on Tuesday when reacting to Joe Kent’s resignation letter.

Kent, Trump’s director of the National Counterterrorism Center, became the first major administration official to resign in protest over the ongoing U.S.-Israel operation against Iran on Tuesday.

Kent, a former GOP congressional candidate and MAGA commentator, made his resignation public in a scathing letter he posted to social media in which he accused the Trump administration of lying about the need for the war.

“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 war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” Kent wrote, arguing that Trump’s claims that Iran was soon going to attack the U.S. are nonsense.

“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,” Kent continued, adding:

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.

McConnell accused Kent of engaging in anti-Semitism in his response. “Joe Kent testified before the Senate one year ago that Iran and its terror proxies threatened U.S. servicemembers in the Middle East. He said it would be an honor to return to the fight against terrorism, and he pledged to lead with integrity and accountability,” wrote the Kentucky Republican, adding:

The virulent anti-Semitism of his resignation letter makes it clear that Mr. Kent is incapable of upholding these pledges, and those who mistake its baseless and incendiary conspiracies for brave truth-telling are only fooling themselves. Isolationists and anti-Semites have no place in either party, and certainly do not deserve places of trust in our government.

Kent served 11 combat tours as an Army Ranger, primarily in Iraq, and later joined the CIA. His wife was killed in a suicide bombing in Syria in 2019, which sparked his political activism.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) also attacked Kent on Tuesday and brought up his controversial past while on CNN. “This is a guy who went on Nazi Sympathizer podcast, you know, this is someone who has espoused pro-Kremlin, talking points, thinks that, you now, Putin had some justification to go into Ukraine,” said Moskowitz, adding:

You know, he said Anthony Fauci should be charged with murder. He’s not exactly the messenger here that I think we should be putting up, even if you agree with some of his points in the letter.

“So I’m glad he’s gone. You know he should never have gotten that position, quite frankly. He ran in a very extreme campaign with, you know, racist, Islamophobic sort of language when he ran for Congress, when he lost, which is why he wound up in the administration,” concluded the Florida Democrat.

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