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Published On: Sat, Mar 21st, 2026

Megyn Kelly Asks Joe Kent About Resignation: “Was It Worth It?”

Megyn Kelly is joined by Joe Kent, former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, to discuss his resignation over the war in Iran, and the accusations of leaking that have followed it:

MEGYN KELLY: So, it’s been a few days now since you issued that resignation. You’ve been called weak by the president of the United States. You’ve been basically called a traitor by Lindsey Graham. You’ve been called an anti-Semite by Mitch McConnell, among others. And now there are reports that you’re under a leak investigation, potentially accusing you of a felony that could put you in jail-even though you now are raising your two boys. You’ve remarried, but you’re their sole biological parent still here. And I ask you now whether this was worth it. JOE KENT: I think it most certainly was, ma’am. I mean, the attacks against me are to be expected. The ad hominems from people like Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham at this point are fairly laughable. They don’t want to discuss the issues. I want to discuss the issues. As for the leak allegations, I’m not concerned because I know I did nothing wrong. Of course, I am concerned because we’ve all seen the FBI and the full weight of the government come down on individuals who speak out. So that has me a little bit concerned, but I know the truth and the facts are on my side. So I think the important issues to address are what’s at hand-why we’re at war and how we get out of the state that we’re in right now. MEGYN KELLY: Your boys have already lost one parent. I mean, the thought of this government-for which you’ve been working, and the country for which you’ve sacrificed so much-actually trying to put you in jail over an alleged leak, after the number of leaks we’ve seen go unpunished over the past 10 years, is truly outrageous, Joe. Does it anger you? How does it make you feel? JOE KENT: You know, it does anger me, but it’s all just to be expected. I knew this was going to happen, and I know their playbook. I think we’re all very familiar with their playbook. So actually, the fact that they’re leaking these allegations-so they have to leak the allegations of an FBI investigation-if there truly was an FBI investigation, and who knows, maybe there will be, then there would be a process and a procedure for that. They would actually formally come to me. And if they were still collecting information, they most certainly wouldn’t leak it. So the fact that the FBI, DOJ, or really probably just partisans are leaking this so-called investigation against me at a time when I’m going on and publicly speaking out against the course that the administration is on, to me, that tells me everything that I need to know. I feel very confident in what I’m doing right now. I think I have a mission, and I think it is to do everything I can to stop this war. So to me, I kind of view everything else as a sideshow, and I just want to stay focused on the mission. … MEGYN KELLY: Eleven combat tours, Joe. JOE KENT: Yes. MEGYN KELLY: How many Bronze Stars do you have? JOE KENT I have six Bronze Stars. MEGYN KELLY: It just seems to me you don’t intimidate that easily. And it’s probably going to take a little bit more than media reports about alleged leak investigations involving non-classified information to scare you-but we’ll see. Hey, can I ask you one other question on this? Did you, in your role, get along with Kash Patel? JOE KENT: Yeah, I actually had a good working relationship with Kash. Look, there’s institutional friction between organizations in the government, just like there was when I was in the military. The National Counterterrorism Center is pretty unique in the fact that they can kind of see what the FBI is doing, what the CIA is doing. It was created after 9/11 to help connect the dots. So it’s somewhat of an oversight function. And anytime you have an oversight function in government, there’s going to inherently be friction, because we are kind of looking into their case files, we’re looking into their operations. And so a lot of times that does develop what I think is a pretty healthy tension.

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