Takeaways from former Trump administration counterterrorism chief Joe Kent’s extensive interview | CNN Politics

Former US National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent sat Wednesday for an extensive interview with former Fox News host and right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson, his first public comments since he resigned from his post, citing concerns about the war with Iran. The interview lasted more than one hour and 40 minutes and covered a wide range of topics, including the ongoing war, but also the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the government’s files on the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy. Kent told Carlson there was limited access to President Donald Trump in the lead up to the war in Iran, saying in part that a “good deal of key decision makers were not allowed to come and express their opinion” to the president. “In the lead up to this last iteration, good deal of key decision makers were not allowed to come and express their opinion to the president,” Kent said, noting that there was “robust debate” preceding US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites last year. By contrast, the intelligence community’s ability to offer a “sanity check” when briefing the president “was largely stifled in this second iteration,” Kent said. “They had that di