In a provocative development out of Washington, Joe Kent, the former head of the National Counterterrorism Center, has stirred controversy by hinting at a conspiracy theory involving Israel in the tragic assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. On Wednesday, Kent, who resigned from his position within the Trump administration just a day prior in response to the ongoing conflict in Iran, raised eyebrows with his speculative comments.
Speaking with right-wing media personality Tucker Carlson, Kent suggested that Kirk’s vocal opposition to military action against Iran and his stance on reassessing U.S. relations with Israel might have made him a target. “One of President Trump’s closest advisers, who is vocally advocating for us to not go to war with Iran and for us to rethink at least our relationship with the Israelis, and then he’s suddenly publicly assassinated,” Kent remarked, emphasizing the need for further investigation.
Despite the ongoing judicial procedures, Kent expressed frustration at the lack of inquiry into these angles. “And we’re not allowed to ask any questions about that,” he lamented, urging for a deeper look into what he perceives as a significant “data point.”
The assassination, which took place during a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025, has led to the arrest of 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, who is facing charges of aggravated murder. Authorities have maintained that Robinson acted alone in the attack.
Kent, however, is skeptical of the investigation’s handling. He told Carlson that his own involvement, as part of the National Counterterrorism Center, was abruptly halted. “We’ve been told that this individual, Robinson, is the one gunman, and maybe he is, but the investigation that I was a part of — the National Counterterrorism Center was a part of — we were stopped from continuing to investigate,” Kent asserted, adding that the FBI decided to transfer the case to Utah prosecutors.
“We’ve been told that this individual, Robinson, is the one gunman, and maybe he is, but the investigation that I was a part of — the National Counterterrorism Center was a part of — we were stopped from continuing to investigate,” Kent told Carlson, claiming the FBI wanted to turn over the investigation to Utah prosecutors.
“There was still a lot for us to look into that I can’t really get into, but there was still linkage for us to investigate that we needed to run down,” he added.
A law enforcement source familiar with the matter scoffed at Kent’s version of events, telling The Post that he had “no authority” to probe Kirk’s death and “wasn’t ‘blocked’ from investigating s–t — he was blocked from accessing files he had no role or statutory authority to access.”
That source also said that during the early stages of the Kirk assassination investigation, Kent “would walk [into] meetings, without any information or evidence, and speculate that Iran had killed Charlie,” then “when asked for evidence, he had none.”
The feds have unearthed reams of text messages between Robinson and his transgender roomate and lover, Lance Twiggs. In one of the messages, Robinson told Twiggs that he “had enough of his hatred,” referring to Kirk’s criticism of the transgender rights movement.
“Some hate can’t be negotiated out,” Robinson added.
No credible evidence that any foreign nation had a role in Kirk’s murder has been presented, either by prosecutors or Robinson’s defense team.
Kent then spoke about messages from Kirk that surfaced after his murder in which the Turning Point USA co-founder claimed to feel pressure from pro-Israel donors as he publicly began to grow more skeptical about the behavior of the Jewish state.
The former intelligence official claimed that his last interaction with Kirk was in June last year when they crossed paths in the West Wing stairway, at which point Kirk purportedly told Kent: “Joe, stop us from getting into a war with Iran.”
“We know Charlie was advocating to President Trump against this war with Iran. And we knew at the end of the 12-day war, at the end of [Operation] Midnight Hammer, that the Israelis were to come back and ask us to go back to war again, right?” Kent said.
“So we have a lot of data points.”
The former counterterrorism honcho suggested in his resignation announcement Tuesday that Israel pushed Trump into Operation Epic Fury, claiming that Tehran posed “no imminent threat” to the US and that the commander-in-chief was shielded from dissenting views.
That allegation was met with fierce pushback from the Trump administration, with top officials accusing Kent of being a leaker.
The FBI is investigating Kent for allegedly leaking classified information, The Post reported Thursday, with one source claiming that he had effectively been “iced out” of high-level deliberations before his resignation.
Kent declined to explicitly accuse Israel of having a hand in Kirk’s murder, but his insinuation was apparent and drew backlash on social media.
“[Alexander] Vindman 2.0 here leaked, got caught, and is now trying to salvage his play by fabricating moronic conspiracies with the digital prostitutes crowd,” conservative radio host Dana Loesch chided.
“Why would the FBI need the NCTC [National Counterterrorism Center] to investigate [Kirk’s murder]? They can’t issue warrants, they don’t collect or surveil anything, what is he even talking about?” another user pondered.
“Pure insanity,” conservative operative Steve Guest said in response to Kent’s claims.
“Now he’s using Charlie Kirk’s death to save his ass from going to prison! This guy is a bigger POS than Candace Owens!” conservative pundit Vince Langman posted on X.
Kent previously ran for Congress in 2022 and 2024. In his first campaign, he unseated Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) in a primary but lost the general election to Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), who has held the seat since.
