White nationalist could soon be in charge of counterterrorism unit

Former Central Intelligence Agency officer Joe Kent never won any of his bids for Congress, but thanks to President Donald Trump, the man with ties to white nationalism might soon be in charge of the National Counterterrorism Center.

Kent, who had his confirmation hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Thursday, has no prior experience running an intelligence unit—though neither does his boss, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard.

However, the Green Beret veteran has plenty of experience working with white supremacists and spreading conspiracy theories. 

In 2021, Kent, who currently works under Gabbard as her chief of staff, teamed up with known white supremacist Nick Fuentes, which he admitted on social media during one of his failed congressional bids. When Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Fuentes posted on X—one of the few social media platforms he isn’t banned from—to make a disturbing post.

“Your body, my choice. Forever,” he wrote.

Kent has also been interviewed by Greyson Arnold, who has said that Adolf Hitler was misunderstood. Kent and his team later denied knowing who Arnold was at the time of the interview. 

Meanwhile, Mother Jones journalist David Corn called out Kent on Thursday for his tattoo, which reads “Panzer,” which was a German tank used by the Nazis during World War II. 

And while he can deny associations, Kent’s online history speaks for itself, tweeting back and forth with the founder of far-right paramilitary group 1st Amendment Praetorians. The group, shortened to 1AP, was subpoenaed in 2021 for its involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. 

Shady relationships aside, Kent himself has his own concerning ideologies. During his confirmation hearing, he told committee members that he plans to investigate a debunked far-right conspiracy theory that the FBI was involved in the insurrection.

Kent, who has openly voiced his love for MAGA loyalist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, has a real affinity for conspiracies like this. While on the congressional campaign trail, Kent referred to the COVID-19 vaccine as “experimental gene therapy.

“Anthony Fauci and a lot of his underlings were running amok as unelected bureaucrats, funding gain-of-function research under the nose of our federal government. They were funding the very same people who cooked up the COVID-19 virus in the Wuhan Institute [of Virology] and Fauci must be held accountable for that,” he said. 

More recently, Kent was included in the group chat in the SignalGate scandal. 

“There’s currently ongoing litigation, Senator, so I really can’t give any more details,” he said during his confirmation hearing, later adding that “no classified information was discussed,” so it was “not a concern” to him. 

It sounds like Kent will fit right in among the Trump administration. 

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