--- title: Gabbard Is Pressed on Kent's Resignation Letter, Admits Concern During Tense Hearing description: Joe Kent's decision to step down over his position on the Iran war, and the claims he made in his resignation letter to President Donald Trump, has prompted much discussion. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/03/19/tulsi-gabbard-joe-kent-resignation-letter-trump-iran-war-claims-hearing/ author: Callum Sutherland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-03-19T19:31:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-19T21:30:59.770Z article:section: Politics og:title: Gabbard Pressed on Kent's Resignation Letter, Admits Concern During Tense Hearing og:description: Joe Kent's decision to step down over his position on the Iran war, and the claims he made in his resignation letter to President Donald Trump, has prompted much discussion. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/03/19/tulsi-gabbard-joe-kent-resignation-letter-trump-iran-war-claims-hearing/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e9a58d3c7b0fdf4/69bc314f5b0534750f7c0ade/gabbard-kent-letter-march19.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: gabbard-kent-letter-march19.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Gabbard Pressed on Kent's Resignation Letter, Admits Concern During Tense Hearing twitter:description: Joe Kent's decision to step down over his position on the Iran war, and the claims he made in his resignation letter to President Donald Trump, has prompted much discussion. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e9a58d3c7b0fdf4/69bc314f5b0534750f7c0ade/gabbard-kent-letter-march19.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Gabbard Is Pressed on Kent's Resignation Letter, Admits Concern During Tense Hearing by [Callum Sutherland](https://time.com/author/callum-sutherland/) ## Callum Sutherland Reporter Mar 19, 2026 7:31 PM UTC  Tulsi Gabbard, director of National Intelligence, speaks during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on March 19, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Tulsi Gabbard, director of National Intelligence, speaks during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on March 19, 2026, in Washington, D.C.Andrew Harnik - Getty Images by [Callum Sutherland](https://time.com/author/callum-sutherland/) ## Callum Sutherland Reporter Mar 19, 2026 7:31 PM UTC Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was pressed on her assessment of top counterterrorism official [Joe Kent’s resignation letter](https://time.com/article/2026/03/17/joe-kent-s-resignation-over-iran-may-be-just-the-beginning/) by the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday. During the annual Worldwide Threats Assessment hearing, Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York mentioned the “high-profile” resignation of Kent, who earlier this week became the first senior Trump Administration official to step down over the Iran war. In his resignation letter addressed to President Donald Trump, Kent said he cannot “in good conscience” support the war as Iran posed “no imminent threat” to the U.S. Stefanik read aloud part of [Kent](https://time.com/article/2026/03/17/joe-kent-resignation-iran-war/)’s letter to Trump, whereby he told the President: “High-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran. This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now, there was a clear path to victory.” Having expressed her own view that the note was “inappropriate,” Stefanik asked Gabbard if she agreed or disagreed with the letter. “He \[Kent\] said a lot of things in that letter,” Gabbard responded. “Ultimately, we have provided the President with the intelligence assessments, and the President is elected by the American people and makes his own decisions based on the information that's available to him.” The lawmaker pushed Gabbard once again for a definitive answer, eager to know whether she “agreed” with Kent’s letter. “Does that statement he made blaming Israel concern you?” Stefanik asked, to which Gabbard replied: “Yes.” Trump commented on Kent’s resignation Tuesday, [telling](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1L9j1hY6u0) reporters in the Oval Office that he thought Kent was a "nice guy,” but "very weak on security.” “When I read his statement, I realized that it’s a good thing that he’s out because he said that Iran was not a threat. Iran was a threat, every country realised what a threat Iran was,” he argued. Later, the President [posted](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116247522086271962) a screenshot of a 2020 social media post [from Kent,](https://x.com/joekent16jan19/status/1214730592765399040) during which he urged Trump not to “sit and wait for the next attack” from Iran following the U.S. killing of key Iranian general [Qasem Soleimani.](https://time.com/5758250/qasem-soleimani-iran-retaliation/) “Wipe Iran’s ballistic capability out and get our troops out of Iraq—they are only targets now,” wrote Kent. The assassination of Iranian Quds Force leader Soleimani, which took place on a military base in Iraq, has been [cited by Trump](https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/trump-transcripts/transcript-president-trump-addresses-the-republican-members-issues-conference-in-florida-3926) during the current conflict as evidence of his own decisiveness in taking military action against Iran. Vice President J.D. Vance—who has [previously voiced ](https://time.com/article/2026/03/10/how-trump-and-vance-differed-on-iran-war/)an anti-interventionist stance—also criticized Kent’s approach. “It’s one thing to have a disagreement of opinion… that said, whatever your view is, when the President of the United States makes a decision, it’s your job to help make that decision as effective and successful as possible,” he [said](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCaaKGk6RlU). According to analysis initially published by [Semafor](https://www.semafor.com/article/03/18/2026/fbi-investigates-national-security-aide-who-resigned-over-war), Kent is reportedly the subject of an open FBI probe that predates his resignation. It's said to focus on "allegations that he improperly shared classified information." TIME has been unable to independently verify the existence of such an investigation. Meanwhile, following his highly-publicized resignation, Kent has continued his criticism of the Iran war. “The main issue is what the Israelis are doing, and \[Trump\] needs to very forcefully, and probably with a new team of diplomats, go to the Israelis and say 'you’re done,'”[ claimed Kent ](https://x.com/TCNetwork/status/2034447836679450961)in an interview with Tucker Carlson on Wednesday. The former counterterrorism director’s assertion that Iran posed no imminent threat was a key point pushed on Gabbard during [a separate Senate ](https://time.com/article/2026/03/18/tulsi-gabbard-iran-nuclear-trump/)hearing Wednesday. When pressed by Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia on whether the intelligence community had determined that Iran posed an imminent nuclear threat, Gabbard said “the only person who can determine what is and is not an imminent threat is the President.” In her [opening statement](https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/os-gabbard-031826.pdf) written ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, Gabbard contradicted Trump by stating that Iran did not rebuild its nuclear program after the U.S. joined Israel in [striking three key nuclear facilities](https://time.com/7296469/u-s-strikes-iran-nuclear-trump-war/) in June 2025. Her assessment stood in stark contrast to that of the President, who has cited nuclear capabilities as his reasoning for [launching strikes on Iran](https://time.com/7346357/iran-strikes-news-us-trump-protests/) alongside Israel on Feb. 28\. “If we didn’t hit within two weeks, they would’ve had a nuclear weapon,” he said during a meeting with congressional leaders on March 4. The Trump Administration has [offered varying rationale](https://time.com/7382385/iran-war-congress-marco-rubio-rationale/) for its decision to launch military action, prompting criticism and concern from lawmakers who oppose the widening war. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/19/tulsi-gabbard-joe-kent-resignation-letter-trump-iran-war-claims-hearing/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/19/tulsi-gabbard-joe-kent-resignation-letter-trump-iran-war-claims-hearing/"},"headline":"Gabbard Is Pressed on Kent's Resignation Letter, Admits Concern During Tense Hearing","datePublished":"2026-03-19T19:31:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-19T21:30:59.770Z","description":"Joe Kent's decision to step down over his position on the Iran war, and the claims he made in his resignation letter to President Donald Trump, has prompted much discussion.","url":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/19/tulsi-gabbard-joe-kent-resignation-letter-trump-iran-war-claims-hearing/","keywords":["Iran","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e9a58d3c7b0fdf4/69bc314f5b0534750f7c0ade/gabbard-kent-letter-march19.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Callum Sutherland","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/callum-sutherland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e9a58d3c7b0fdf4/69bc314f5b0534750f7c0ade/gabbard-kent-letter-march19.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"gabbard-kent-letter-march19.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"Andrew Harnik - Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/iran/","name":"Iran"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/19/tulsi-gabbard-joe-kent-resignation-letter-trump-iran-war-claims-hearing/","name":"Gabbard Is Pressed on Kent's Resignation Letter, Admits Concern During Tense Hearing"}}]}] ```