Joint Statement from Ranking Members Thompson and Magaziner on the Confirmation of Joe Kent as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center

(WASHINGTON, DC) – Today, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Committee, and Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, issued the below statement following last night’s Senate confirmation of Joe Kent as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC):

“The confirmation of Joe Kent to be the nation’s top counterterrorism official poses a great risk to the integrity of our nation’s intelligence work and national security. As we saw earlier this year, while serving as the acting chief of staff to the director of national intelligence, Mr. Kent reportedly pressured an intelligence analyst to lie and alter intelligence findings to support Trump’s claims on the relationship between Venezuela’s government and a Venezuelan gang that was used as the basis for the decision to send migrants to a foreign prison without due process.

Mr. Kent has embraced and promoted dangerous conspiracy theories about January 6th, calling the rioters “political prisoners” and he has insisted the 2020 election was “rigged and stolen.” Mr. Kent’s past associations with white-supremacist and far-right extremist groups demonstrate that he is unfit to run NCTC.”

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