White House hits back at resigning official’s claim that Iran didn’t pose imminent threat

US President Donald Trump and his White House are hitting back at Joseph Kent after the latter resigned from his post as director of the US National Counterterrorism Center over his objection to the ongoing war with Iran, which he insists did not pose an “imminent threat.”

“I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was very weak on security,” Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office.

“When I read a 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… The question is whether or not they wanted to do something about it, and many people… are saying that the president should have taken out Iran because they wanted a nuclear weapon.”

Subsequently, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt ways in a tweet, also taking particular issue with Ken’s assertion that Iran didn’t pose an “imminent threat.”

“As President Trump has clearly and explicitly stated, he had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first,” she writes. “This evidence was compiled from many sources and factors. President Trump would never make the decision to deploy military assets against a foreign adversary in a vacuum.”

Briefers from the Pentagon reportedly told Congressional leaders earlier this month that the US, in fact, did not have intelligence pointing to a preemptive strike being planned by Iran.

Branding Iran “the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism,” Leavitt highlights Tehran’s efforts to expand its missile program, using it “as a shield to continue achieving their ultimate goal – nuclear weapons.”

“President Trump ultimately made the determination that a joint attack with Israel would greatly reduce the risk to American lives that would come from a first strike by the terrorist Iranian regime and address this imminent threat to America’s national security interests,” she asserts.

“The commander-in-chief determines what does and does not constitute a threat, because he is the one constitutionally empowered to do so – and because the American people went to the ballot box and entrusted him and him alone to make such final judgments,” Leavitt says.

“And finally, the absurd allegation that President Trump made this decision based on the influence of others, even foreign countries, is both insulting and laughable. President Trump has been remarkably consistent and has said for DECADES that Iran can NEVER possess a nuclear weapon,” she adds.

Trump “is always looking to do what’s in the best interest of the United States of America — period. America First,” Leavitt concludes.