Senate confirms Trump’s pick for counterterrorism agency, a former Green Beret with extremist ties

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press WASHINGTON AP The Senate certified President Donald Trump s pick to lead the National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent on Wednesday evening as Republicans looked past his connections to right-wing extremists and endorsement for conspiracy theories about the Jan riot at the U S Capitol Kent won confirmation on a - vote tally with Sen Thom Tillis of North Carolina the only Republican nay vote Kent had already been working for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard As the head of the National Counterterrorism Center he will oversee an agency tasked with analyzing and detecting terrorist threats In the role he plans to devote agency information to targeting Latin American gangs and other criminal groups tied to migration He is the latest Trump loyalist to win Senate confirmation to the upper echelons of U S national safeguard leadership at a time when Trump is stretching his presidential wartime powers to accomplish his goals President Trump is committed to identifying these cartels and these violent gang members and making sure that we locate them and that we get them out of our country Kent explained at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee in April Related Articles Judge orders Trump administration to explain why order to restore Voice of America wasn t followed Trump administration is launching a new private physical condition tracking system with Big Tech s help Wellbeing coverage for Colorado babies and toddlers could be disrupted by Trump administration procedures Medicaid was signed into law years ago Trump s big bill is chiseling it back Trump announces tariff on India and unspecified penalties for buying Russian oil Kent enters the top role at the counterterrorism center after two unsuccessful campaigns for Congress in Washington state as well as a military career that saw him deployed times as a Green Beret followed by work at the CIA His first wife a Navy cryptologist was killed by a suicide bomber in while fighting the Islamic State group in Syria Yet Democrats strongly opposed his confirmation pointing to his past ties to far-right figures and conspiracy theories During his congressional campaign Kent paid Graham Jorgensen a member of the far-right military group the Proud Boys for consulting work He also worked closely with Joey Gibson the founder of the Christian nationalist group Patriot Prayer and attracted aid from a variety of far-right figures During his Senate confirmation hearing Kent also refused to distance himself from a conspiracy theory that federal agents had somehow instigated the Jan attack at the Capitol as well as false states that Trump won the voting process over President Joe Biden Democrats grilled him on his participation in a group chat on Signal that was used by Trump s national defense club to discuss sensitive military plans They also raised grave concerns over a latest affair where Kent as Gabbard s chief of staff narrated an intelligence analyst to revise an assessment of the relationship between the Venezuelan ruling body and a transnational gang The revisions supported Trump s assertions that members of the gang could be removed under the Alien Enemies Act a wartime provision Democrats noted it indicated Kent cannot be trusted to handle various of the nation s the majority vital and sensitive intelligence Sen Mark Warner of Virginia the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee stated any counterterrorism director must be trusted to tell the truth and to uphold the core principles of the intelligence neighborhood Objectivity nonpartisanship and fidelity to fact Unfortunately Mr Kent has shown time and again that he cannot meet the standard Warner added Still Republicans have praised his counterterrorism qualifications pointing to his military and intelligence experience Sen Tom Cotton the GOP chair of the intelligence committee commented in a floor speech that Kent has dedicated his career to fighting terrorism and keeping Americans safe