Trump nominates ex-WA congressional candidate Joe Kent for director job

President Donald Trump has nominated former Washington Republican congressional candidate Joe Kent to be the next director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). 

Trump made the announcement on Truth Social Monday afternoon.

“As a soldier, Green Beret, and CIA Officer, Joe has hunted down terrorists and criminals his entire adult life,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Trump also noted that Kent’s first wife, Shannon, was killed in action.

“Above all, Joe knows the terrible cost of terrorism, losing his wonderful wife, Shannon, a Great American Hero, who was killed in the fight against ISIS, Trump wrote.

Shannon Kent was one of four Americans who died in a January 2019 suicide attack in Syria. Kent served for decades himself, but left the military to take care of his young children after his wife’s death.

Kent responded to the nomination with a short post on X Monday evening, thanking the president and saying he is honored to serve the U.S. again.

“It’s an honor to serve our nation again, time to keep our nation safe & strong,” Kent wrote.

Thank you President Trump!

It’s an honor to serve our nation again, time to keep our nation safe & strong! pic.twitter.com/yxyknrTTMN

— Joe Kent (@joekent16jan19) February 4, 2025

The NCTC is part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. It has existed in its current form since August 2004 when President George W. Bush signed an executive order at the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission.

Christine Abizaid and then Brett Holmgren led the agency during the Biden administration. Don Holstead is the acting head of the agency now.

Joe Kent ran for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District seat

Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez defeated Kent for the seat in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District twice, once in 2022 and then again in the rematch in 2024.

The Washington Secretary of State’s numbers show Gluesenkamp Perez beat Kent by 16,123 votes 3.9% last November. Gluesenkamp Perez secured 215,177 votes, whereas Kent garnered 199,054.

Kent got closer to beating Gluesenkamp Perez in 2022 as she only won by 2,629 votes, which is a margin of less than a point. Gluesenkamp Perez garnered 160,314 votes (50.14%), whereas Kent secured 157,685 (49.31%). There were 1,760 write-in votes in that election as well, the Secretary of State’s website reports. The Seattle Times called Perez’s 2022 victory “perhaps the most stunning political upset in the country this year.”

Before losing to Gluesenkamp Perez for the 3rd District seat in 2022, Kent defeated 6-time winner Jaime Herrera Beutler in the Republican primary. She was first elected in 2010 and was reelected in five more times before losing in 2022. She was one of the few Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack.

“I voted for Representative Beutler to stand firm for my family and our district. She betrayed that trust and made it clear that I needed to act decisively,” Kent wrote on the Green Beret PAC website.

Joe Kent and Donald Trump have supported each other in the past

Kent explained on the Green Beret PAC website that he began earnestly supporting Trump’s “America First” policies after his wife was killed.

“Defending Trump’s policies gave me a taste of the savage fight we face against a hostile mainstream media and deeply entrenched political class,” Kent wrote. “I eagerly sought out the opportunity to defend President Trump when The Atlantic, a well-known publication, printed slanderous accusations about the President.”

Trump was not able to push Kent over the finish line as a winner in 2024, but he has publicly supported Kent. During the last election cycle, Trump helped Kent make his closing argument to voters in the nationally watched race.

After three of his own campaign rallies on a busy day in October 2024, Trump joined Kent in a telephone town hall to voice support for the Republican dueling Gluesenkamp Perez in the 3rd Congressional District, according to The Washington State Standard.

“Joe will be by my side, that I can tell you,” Trump said in October 2024, according to the Standard. Trump went on to describe Gluesenkamp Perez as a “basic disaster.”

Joe Kent’s links to extremism surfaced previously

Kent is also a 2020 election denier. In one 2022 X post, he said, “The 2020 election was rigged & stolen.”

The 2020 election was rigged & stolen. Don’t take it from MAGA, just ask Zuck.

We must bring the corrupt FBI to heel & dismantle big tech. https://t.co/h3M4LBhFQJ

— Joe Kent (@joekent16jan19) August 26, 2022

As The Associated Press (AP) explained in 2022, Kent has also courted prominent white nationalists and posed recently for a photograph with a media personality who has previously described Adolf Hitler as a “complicated historical figure” who “many people misunderstand.”

An AP review of internet postings, court records and campaign finance disclosures at that time “depict a candidate with a more complicated biography than the compelling personal story that turned Kent into a favorite of conservative media.”

Kent stands out for “the breadth of his ties to a deep-seated extremist fringe that has long existed in the Pacific Northwest,” the AP stated in its reporting in 2022.

Campaign finance disclosures reveal Kent paid $11,375 for “consulting” over four months in 2022 to Graham Jorgensen, who was identified as a Proud Boy in a law enforcement report and was charged with cyber stalking his ex-girlfriend in 2018. The charges were dismissed. But a judge in Vancouver, Washington, issued an order of protection requiring Jorgensen to stay away from her, records show.

Kent’s ties to extremism aren’t limited to the Pacific Northwest either, the AP reported.

Matt Braynard, one of Kent’s top advisers who was quoted in the AP story, was the architect of a Washington, D.C., rally in 2021 that sought to build sympathy for those arrested during the insurrection by rebranding them as “political prisoners.” Kent spoke at the rally.

Kent also appeared on a far-right YouTube channel where he echoed sentiments similar to those held by many white nationalists.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with there being a white people special interest group,” Kent said during an interview hosted by a group called the American Populist Union.”

Contributing: The Associated Press

Steve Coogan is the lead editor of MyNorthwest. You can read more of his stories here. Follow Steve on X, or email him here.