President Trump’s former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon criticized the administration’s handling of Joe Kent, the former Trump-appointed Director of the National Terrorism Center who resigned this week citing objections to President Trump’s Iran war. Explaining his decision in a letter to the President (which he shared on social media), Kent said Iran posed “no imminent threat to our nation” at the time of the U.S. attack.
After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today.
I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this… pic.twitter.com/prtu86DpEr
— Joe Kent (@joekent16jan19) March 17, 2026
On his podcast, Bannon said Kent and the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard met on Monday with Vice President JD Vance, who suggested that they met with the Chief of Staff and the President. Bannon thought that was a good idea and that Vance “should have taken Joe straight to the CoS and President so he could explain why he was resigning and why he drafted it.”
Bannon added, “Coming from a guy like @joekent16jan19, this has to be investigated. We can’t kick this down the road.”
But as White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt reported on Fox News today, that meeting didn’t happen. When asked when was the last time Kent saw the President, Leavitt replied, “It has been a while. It’s been a while since the president has seen him here at the White House. It’s been a while since he’s been involved in the process of the presidential daily briefs…This was an individual who not involved in any of the discussions pre-operation and throughout this operation.”
FOX NEWS: When was the last time Joe Kent saw President Trump?
LEAVITT: It has been a while. It’s been a while since the president has seen him here at the White House. It’s been a while since he’s been involved in the process of the presidential daily briefs. He wasn’t involved… pic.twitter.com/5X2O6T4gLk
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 18, 2026
Bannon warned: “I’ve had many questions about the 12 day war and this so called imminent threat. What was it and why were those decisions made? We’re in it now. We have to win. It’s not a good sign when countries rely on the United States for both national and economic security, with the Navy protecting key trade and oil routes through the straits, the Red Sea, and up to the Suez Canal. These questions need answers. Now that Joe Kent has put this out, it’s not going away. This is going to be serious.”
While many on X replied to Bannon’s comments with criticism of Kent including “You are on the wrong side of this. What Kent did was a terrible act of betrayal,” others including retired Lt. General Mike Flynn, former National Security Advisor during the first Trump administration, voiced their support.
Flynn, who like Bannon was pardoned by Trump before he left the White House in January 2021, wrote: “Kent is a very serious person and not someone to disregard. I can only imagine how difficult his decision was because as a true professional, his decision was not taken lightly by him.”
Trump said, after Kent’s resignation, that he thought the counter-terrorism expert was “weak on security.”