Trump's former counterterrorism chief under FBI investigation for sharing classified information after dramatic resignation

The most senior Trump administration official to speak out publicly in opposition to the president's war on Iran is being investigated by the FBI over alleged leaks of classified information.

Multiple sources confirmed to CBS and Semafor that the former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, is under a federal investigation being headed by the FBI's Criminal Division. They claimed the probe had been ongoing for some time.

This revelation followed Kent's explosive resignation this week, protesting President Trump's new war in the Middle East by questioning the very basis for the conflict, saying: "Iran posed no imminent treat our nation."

He added that 'it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,' showing a clear split in the MAGA movement between those opposed to 'forever wars', and the administration's clear commitment to its closest ally in the region.

Joe Kent testified before Congress on 'worldwide threats' faced by the US in December, without mentioning Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program (Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The hardened war vet and long-time Trump supporter explained his tragic personal reason for speaking out, adding: "As a veteran who deployed to combat 11 times and as a Gold Star husband who lost my beloved wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel, | cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the loss of American lives."

Kent's wife died as the result of a 2019 suicide bombing at a market in northern Syria.

While this investigation over the mishandling of classified documents was not public knowledge when Kent resigned, one former White House staffer made a clear reference to it in response to the former counterterrorism director's explosive letter.

Former deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich alluded to the matter, saying on X that Kent was 'often at the center of national security leaks' and that he spent his time in the administration trying to 'subvert the chain of command and undermine the President.'

President Trump said he didn't know Kent well but 'thought he seemed like a pretty nice guy' (ANNABELLE GORDON / AFP via Getty Images)

This was not the response of President Trump, who gave a relatively positive assessment of his ally turned critic. He said: "I always thought he was weak on security,

"I didn't know him well, but I thought he seemed like a pretty nice guy. But 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."

Kent only gave one interview in the wake of his resignation, speaking to conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, where he detailed how there was no intelligence indicating that Iran had a viable nuclear weapons program, or that Israel was going to carry out a pre-emptive strike on the country's leadership.

He claimed that 'the Israelis drove the decision' that has resulted in two weeks of war with America's arch geopolitical rival and thousands of dead people in Iran and Lebanon, as Trump and Netanyahu try to bring the Islamic Republic's guerrilla retaliation tactics to an end.

While the Trump appointee was highly critical of the president's decision to join the conflict in the wake of Israel's decapitation strike, Kent is the opposite of a never-Trump Republican, backing the Commander-in-Chief's claim that the 2020 election was stolen and calling Covid a 'scam'.

The FBI declined to comment.