Brennan: Joe Kent resignation signals ‘MAGA base of Trump’s coalition is fracturing’

Former CIA Director John Brennan said the recent resignation of a top intelligence official indicates President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” base might be split on the U.S. military operation in Iran. 

Joe Kent, the top aide of Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard, announced his resignation and criticized the ongoing military operations in a Tuesday social media post. 

“His resignation in a very public way I think is designed to have an impact and send a signal that the MAGA base of Trump’s coalition is fracturing, that he is wanting to be I think one of the first individuals to do this, carry out a resignation like this so publicly in the midst of a war,” Brennan told MS NOW’s Nicolle Wallace on Tuesday. 

In his resignation letter addressed to Trump on Tuesday, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center said he could not “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 war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” Kent wrote.

The intelligence official urged the president to “reflect” on the strikes against Iran. 

“The time for bold action is now,” he continued. “You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further toward decline and chaos. You hold the cards.”

The U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, setting off an exchange of attacks between the countries. Tehran has also retaliated with airstrikes against neighboring Gulf states and U.S. military bases in the region.

Gabbard refuted Kent’s accusation and defended the president’s decision to militarily intervene in the country in a Tuesday post on social platform X.

“After carefully reviewing all the information before him, President Trump concluded that the terrorist Islamist regime in Iran posed an imminent threat and he took action based on that conclusion,” she wrote.

Despite the DNI’s Tuesday statement, Brennan suggested to MS NOW that Kent’s resignation could negatively impact Gabbard’s relationship with the White House. 

“Kent was basically an acolyte of Gabbard — was appointed to the position by Trump, but with Tulsi Gabbard’s advice and recommendation — so it’s clear that this is now a big concern for the White House because again this was done in such a public way at a time of great concern and including great criticism of the course of this war,” he said.

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