Joint Statement from Ranking Members Thompson and Magaziner on the Nomination of Joe Kent as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center
(WASHINGTON) – Today, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, Ranking Member of House Homeland Security Committee, and Rep. Seth Magaziner, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, issued the following statement on the nomination of Joe Kent as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center:
“Joe Kent has twice been rejected from public office by the people of southwest Washington because of his extremism,” said Ranking Member Thompson. “Someone who has employed a Proud Boy, affiliated with a far-right leader whose rallies led to violence in Portland, and given an interview to a Nazi sympathizer is unfit to lead the nation’s primary organization that processes terrorism and counterterrorism intelligence.”
“Joe Kent is not fit to lead the National Counterterrorism Center,” said Rep. Seth Magaziner. “During his two failed campaigns for Congress, we learned that Kent has ties to white nationalists, has called to defund the FBI and ATF, supported January 6th rioters who attacked police officers, sought political support from a Holocaust denier, dog whistles to the racist far-right, and spreads conspiracy theories that undermine democracy. If that alone is not disqualifying, then the Senate must dig deeply into Joe Kent’s beliefs and associations to ensure the next Director of the National Counterterrorism Center is not an insider threat.”
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