WASHINGTON — Former Nationwide Counterterrorism Middle boss Joe Kent gave a wink and nod Wednesday to an outlandish conspiracy principle that Israel could have been concerned within the assassination of late conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Kent, who resigned his Trump administration place Tuesday in protest of the struggle in Iran, advised that Kirk’s purported opposition to taking navy motion in opposition to the Islamic Republic was a “knowledge level” that must be investigated.
“One in every of President Trump’s closest advisers, who’s vocally advocating for us to not go to struggle with Iran and for us to rethink not less than our relationship with the Israelis, after which he’s immediately publicly assassinated,” Kent informed right-wing pundit and podcaster Tucker Carlson.
“And we’re not allowed to ask any questions on that,” he added. “It’s a knowledge level that we have to look into.”
Authorities have charged Tyler Robinson, 22, with aggravated homicide over the Sept. 10, 2025, assassination of Kirk throughout a talking occasion at Utah Valley College.
“We’ve been informed that this particular person, Robinson, is the one gunman, and perhaps he’s, however the investigation that I used to be part of — the Nationwide Counterterrorism Middle was part of — we have been stopped from persevering with to analyze,” Kent informed Carlson, claiming the FBI needed to show over the investigation to Utah prosecutors.
“There was nonetheless loads for us to look into that I can’t actually get into, however there was nonetheless linkage for us to analyze that we wanted to run down,” he added.
A legislation enforcement supply conversant in the matter shot down Kent’s model of occasions, telling The Publish that he had “no authority” to probe Kirk’s demise and “wasn’t ‘blocked’ from investigating s–t — he was blocked from accessing recordsdata he had no position or statutory authority to entry.”
That supply additionally mentioned that throughout the early phases of the Kirk assassination investigation, Kent “would stroll [into] conferences, with none info or proof, and speculate that Iran had killed Charlie,” then “when requested for proof, he had none.”
The feds have unearthed reams of textual content messages between Robinson and his transgender roomate and lover, Lance Twiggs. In one of many messages, Robinson informed Twiggs that he “had sufficient of his hatred,” referring to Kirk’s criticism of the transgender rights motion.
“Some hate can’t be negotiated out,” Robinson added.
No credible proof that any overseas nation had a job in Kirk’s homicide has been introduced, both by prosecutors or Robinson’s protection staff.
Kent then spoke about messages from Kirk that surfaced after his homicide through which the Turning Level USA co-founder claimed to really feel stress from pro-Israel donors as he publicly started to develop extra skeptical in regards to the conduct of the Jewish state.
The previous intelligence official claimed that his final interplay with Kirk was in June of final 12 months once they crossed paths within the West Wing stairway, at which level Kirk purportedly informed Kent: “Joe, cease us from getting right into a struggle with Iran.”
“We all know Charlie was advocating to President Trump in opposition to this struggle with Iran. And we knew on the finish of the 12-day struggle, on the finish of [Operation] Midnight Hammer, that the Israelis have been to come back again and ask us to return to struggle once more, proper?” Kent mentioned.
“So we’ve got a number of knowledge factors.”
The previous counterterrorism honcho advised in his resignation announcement Tuesday that Israel pushed President Trump into Operation Epic Fury, claiming that Tehran posed “no imminent menace” to the US and that the commander in chief was shielded from dissenting views.
That allegation was met with fierce pushback from the Trump administration, with high officers accusing Kent of being a leaker.
The FBI is at present investigating Kent for allegedly leaking labeled info, The Publish reported Thursday, with one supply claiming that he had successfully been “iced out” of high-level deliberations earlier than his resignation.
Kent declined to explicitly accuse Israel of getting a hand in Kirk’s homicide, however his insinuation was obvious and drew backlash on social media.
“[Alexander] Vindman 2.0 right here leaked, obtained caught, and is now attempting to salvage his play by fabricating moronic conspiracies with the digital prostitutes crowd,” conservative radio host Dana Loesch chided.
“Why would the FBI want the NCTC [National Counterterrorism Center] to analyze [Kirk’s murder]? They’ll’t concern warrants, they don’t acquire or surveil something, what’s he even speaking about?” one other consumer contemplated.
“Pure madness,” conservative operative Steve Visitor mentioned in response to Kent’s claims.
“Now he’s utilizing Charlie Kirk’s demise to save lots of his ass from going to jail! This man is an even bigger POS than Candace Owens!” conservative pundit Vince Langman posted on X.
Kent beforehand ran for Congress in 2022 and 2024. In his first marketing campaign, he unseated Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) in a major however misplaced the final election to Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), who has held the seat since.
