An influential pro-Israel group is opposing former GOP congressional candidate JOE KENT’s nomination to head up the National Counterterrorism Center, calling it “a very dangerous appointment” and saying he is “a zealot whose blind devotion to an extremist ideology concerns us deeply.”
Opposition from Democratic Majority for Israel, whose PAC spent millions in Democratic primaries last cycle, will likely add to Kent’s narrow path to confirmation and discourage some Democrats who’ve backed Trump’s national security picks, such as Sen. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-Penn.), from supporting the Washington State Republican. If swing Republicans stay on the fence supporting Kent, that could doom Kent’s nomination (though few GOP senators have actually crossed party lines on natsec nominees to date).
“No one who joins a podcast hosted by a Nazi sympathizer, lifts talking points from pro-Russian Telegram channels and says government-controlled agents were part of the Jan. 6 attacks should be in charge of counterterrorism – period,” DMFI executive director MARK MELLMAN said in a statement first given to NatSec Daily. DMFI also called Kent out for previously saying Russia had “legitimate” reasons to invade Ukraine and that Zelenskyy was “installed” by the U.S.
Kent, an Army Special Forces veteran who briefly served at the CIA, declined to comment. A spokesperson for the White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.