Joe Kent has pushed white nationalist views and fanned conspiracies about the 2020 election being “stolen” and the FBI planning the Jan. 6 insurrection.

WASHINGTON ― You can’t make it up, folks. Senate Republicans voted late Wednesday to confirm Joe Kent, a conspiracy theorist with alarming ties to white nationalists and far-right groups, to lead the National Counterterrorism Center.

Kent was confirmed, 52-44. Every Republican but one, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, voted for him. Every Democrat present opposed him.

A former CIA paramilitary officer and twice-failed congressional candidate backed by President Donald Trump, Kent has regularly aligned himself with far-right extremists.

During his campaign for a congressional seat in Washington state, Kent talked with white nationalist Nick Fuentes about helping him with his social media strategy. He gave an interview to Nazi sympathizer Greyson Arnold, who has a history of making racist and antisemitic statements, including describing Adolf Hitler as “a complicated historical figure which many people misunderstand.” He has downplayed the extremism of the neofascist Proud Boys, whose leaders were convicted of seditious conspiracy related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. He lumped the Black Lives Matter movement in with “child trafficking rings and cartels,” saying they should face “federal terrorism charges.”

Kent has also pushed dangerous conspiracy theories, including the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged” and “stolen” from Trump, and that the FBI was involved in carrying out the Jan. 6 insurrection. He also falsely claimed that the Secret Service was “in on” last year’s assassination attempt against Trump.

All but one Senate Republican voted to confirm Joe Kent, a conspiracy theorist with a record of aligning himself with far-right extremists, to leader the National Counterterrorism Center.
All but one Senate Republican voted to confirm Joe Kent, a conspiracy theorist with a record of aligning himself with far-right extremists, to leader the National Counterterrorism Center.
via Associated Press

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, strongly opposed Kent’s nomination. On Wednesday, he warned his colleagues that Congress received “clear written evidence” in May that Kent, when he was chief of staff to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, tried to manipulate intelligence to match a political narrative being promoted by Trump.

“His efforts to alter intelligence assessments in support of demonstrably false political claims is not only a gross violation of the solemn responsibility with which the intelligence community is charged, which is to speak truth to power regardless of politics, but it is also a threat to our ability to keep the nation safe,” Warner said in a statement.

“When intelligence is shaped to fit political agendas instead of hard facts, it blinds decision-makers to real threats, sows confusion among our allies, and emboldens our adversaries,” he said.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who represents Kent’s home state, said so many of his actions are “completely disqualifying” for leading the agency responsible for collecting intelligence to protect the country from terrorist threats. She singled out his conspiracies about the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, which was incited by Trump as he watched from the White House.

“You want to know who in the federal government was behind the insurrection? How about we start with man in the White House who promised to march to the Capitol with them?” Murray said in a fiery speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday. “How about we start with the president, who calls rioters ‘patriots?’ How about we start with the guy who pardoned violent cop beaters, en masse?”

She added, “If you cannot be honest with the American people about Jan. 6, you have no business being trusted with protecting our democracy. It should be that simple.”