STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
A counterterrorism official who quit over the war in Iran has been explaining why. Last night, Joe Kent joined one of the conflict's most high profile critics, Tucker Carlson. NPR political reporter Elena Moore was watching and joins us now. Elena, good morning.
ELENA MOORE, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: So would you remind people who Kent is or who he was before this moment?
MOORE: Well, Kent was the director of the National Counterterrorism Center. He's a veteran who deployed 11 times to the Middle East, and he's been an outspoken critic of the U.S. getting involved in prolonged military conflicts in the region. It's a position he says he believed was shared by Trump who he's supported since 2016, but in a resignation letter posted on social media earlier this week, Kent said the events in Iran go against that original foreign policy message Trump campaigned on.
INSKEEP: And we discussed this letter yesterday on the program. He brings up Israel again and again, says, Israel pressured the U.S. into war, pressured the U.S. into other wars. So what did he say to Tucker Carlson?
MOORE: Yeah, well, he's casting doubt on two of the key rationales this White House has given in justifying going to war with Iran, telling Carlson that Iran did not pose an imminent threat to the U.S., as administration officials have claimed, and Iran was not close to obtaining a nuclear weapon.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "THE TUCKER CARLSON SHOW")
JOE KENT: They weren't three weeks ago when this started, and they weren't in June, either.
MOORE: Yeah, and he claims that Israel forced the U.S.'s hand, essentially, in starting the war.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "THE TUCKER CARLSON SHOW")
KENT: The Israelis felt emboldened that no matter what they did, no matter what situation they put us in, that they could go ahead and take this action and we would just have to react. And so that speaks to that relationship.
MOORE: And that's echoing comments made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said that American officials knew Israel was going to launch attacks on Iran, and that would have triggered a response against U.S. interests. Kent also said he was worried, frankly, that the conflict in Iran has raised the risk of domestic terrorism.
INSKEEP: How are people responding to all this?
MOORE: Well, Trump has criticized Kent for breaking with the administration, telling reporters at the White House on Tuesday that Kent was, quote, "weak on security" and that Iran was, in fact, a threat. But Kent's language in his resignation letter that Israel has deceived Trump into getting involved in this conflict, that has also been condemned by pro-Israel groups. Leaders at the liberal organization J Street called that language, quote, "ugly stuff that plays on the worst antisemitic tropes."
And we should say he's also faced blowback in the past for conspiratorial comments, including about the January 6 attack on the Capitol. And we heard more of these in last night's interview when Kent alluded to conspiracy theories associated with the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
INSKEEP: Elena, when we have a former Trump official criticizing the president in an interview with Tucker Carlson, who has been a big supporter of the president in the past, does that suggest a split within MAGA?
MOORE: Well, look, it's not news that Carlson is splitting with Trump on the war, but what is noteworthy is that a top security official from the administration is sitting down with him, giving voice to a fraying part of Trump's MAGA coalition right now, who feel that they were promised one thing and are getting the opposite. Here's how Kent described it.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "THE TUCKER CARLSON SHOW")
KENT: This is why 77 million people voted for him. It's probably not the only reason, but the no new wars, put America first, don't let us bleed out in the Middle East, that's what people voted for.
MOORE: And, you know, it's worth noting that Republicans have largely remained supportive of Trump, even when majorities of Democrats and independents don't. That's been the case with this war so far. The latest NPR/PBS/News Marist Poll finds that more than 8 in 10 Republicans support U.S. military action in Iran.
INSKEEP: NPR political reporter, Elena Moore. Thanks so much.
MOORE: Thanks, Steve.
(SOUNDBITE OF I DON'T LIKE MIRRORS' "I MISS YOUR WARM HANDS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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