The FBI has opened an investigation into Joe Kent, who resigned as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center this week, over allegations that he improperly shared classified information, according to multiple reports.
The ex-top intelligence official resigned Tuesday in protest over the war in Iran, writing in his resignation letter that Iran “posed no imminent threat to our nation” and President Trump started the war because of “pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
The FBI investigation predates Mr. Kent’s departure by several months and is focused on alleged leaks of classified information, Semafor first reported.
“He left quite an online paper trail and he has been monitored for months,” a source familiar with the investigation told Axios.
White House officials labeled him “a known leaker” immediately after his resignation, adding that he had been cut out of briefings with the president.
Mr. Trump called him “weak on security.”
SEE ALSO: White House distances itself from counterterrorism official who resigned over Iran war
Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich hinted at alleged leaks, calling him a “crazed egomaniac who was often at the center of national security leaks.”
“He spent all of his time working to subvert the chain of command and undermine the President of the United States. This isn’t some principled resignation—he just wanted to make a splash before getting canned. What a loser,” he said.
Mr. Kent was suspected of leaking information to Tucker Carlson and another conservative podcaster.
“He’s going to try to say this was in retaliation for his resignation,” the source told Axios, adding that “it’s the other way around: He quit because he’s under investigation and he knew it.”
The day after Mr. Kent released his letter of resignation, he appeared on Mr. Carlson’s show.
Mr. Carlson, a critic of the Iran war, asked Mr. Kent if Iran was on the verge of getting a nuclear weapon. Mr. Kent responded flatly, “No.”
“They weren’t three weeks ago when this started, and they weren’t in June either. I mean, the Iranians have had a religious ruling—a fatwa—against actually developing a nuclear weapon since 2004. That’s been in place since 2004. That’s available in the public sphere. But then also, we had no intelligence to indicate that that fatwa was being disobeyed or it was on the cusp of being lifted,” he said.
Mr. Carlson defended the fellow critic of the war.
“Joe Kent was right. Therefore, Joe Kent must be destroyed,” Mr. Carlson said. “And there is, of course, this ongoing effort to do that, to dismiss Joe Kent as a tool of the Islamists, or a leaker.”
