At a Senate hearing Wednesday, former Washington congressional candidate Joe Kent brushed off or refused to answer questions about a controversial group chat disclosing details of a U.S. military strike.
He also stuck by his past claims that the FBI may have secretly instigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on U.S. Capitol, saying the intelligence community under Trump is "looking into whether elements of the government" were involved.
Kent was nominated by President Donald Trump in February to lead the National Counterterrorism Center. On Wednesday, he sat for a confirmation hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
While he faced hostile questioning from Democrats on Wednesday, Kent's confirmation appeared to be set to advance, with the committee chair saying he'll move it soon to a vote.
Kent drew bipartisan praise at the hearing for his two decades of military service as a Green Beret combat veteran. He served in Iraq and was awarded six Bronze Stars. After leaving the U.S. Army in 2018 he worked as a CIA officer.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., the chair of the Intelligence Committee, praised Kent as "a soldier and a patriot" and "the right person" to lead the counterterrorism center. He noted the personal sacrifice Kent endured when his first wife, U.S. Navy cryptologist Shannon Kent, was killed by a terrorist bombing in Syria in 2019.
Kent, in his opening statement, broadly endorsed the counterterrorism priorities of the Trump administration, including efforts to go after "brutal drug-trafficking cartels" fueling the fentanyl crisis and slamming the Biden administration for allowing "violent extremists" to flow unchecked across the U.S. Mexico border.
Democrats on the panel did not dispute Kent's qualifications for the counterterrorism role. But some questioned his judgment, citing his participation in the Signal group chat that exploded into a scandal after Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, revealed he'd been accidentally added to the chat, which included specific details about the plans for attacks on Houthi militia.
Kent repeatedly downplayed or declined to answer questions about the Signal discussion.
"Did you use a personal phone or a government phone during that chat?" asked Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the ranking Democrat on the intelligence panel.
"There's currently ongoing litigation, Senator, so I really can't give any more details," Kent responded.
"I'm pretty disappointed by that answer," Warner said. He asked if Kent's phone had been scanned to ensure it didn't have any malware on it.
"We followed all the security procedures and took all security precautions," Kent said.
He repeatedly cited a lawsuit filed by American Oversight, a liberal watchdog group, as a reason to not answer questions about the Signal chat. The lawsuit alleges Trump officials violated open-records laws by using the civilian phone app to discuss military plans.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, also questioned Kent over the Signal chat, asking whether it concerned him that one of the people on the chat had been in Russia while participating.
"We know that Russia is trying very hard to penetrate our communication systems," Collins said.
Kent said there was "no classified information discussed" so "it was not a concern to me."
Kent's history of sharing conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6 2021 Capitol attack during his runs for congress also was raised at his hearing.
As a Trump-endorsed candidate, Kent repeatedly shared articles from far-right websites claiming government agents — rather than Trump supporters — were to blame for the attack. He also repeated false claims that Trump, not Biden, had actually won the 2020 election.
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, asked Kent about his past comments on Twitter that the FBI and the intelligence community "were involved in planning and directing the riot — is that correct?"
"Sounds like something I said, yeah," Kent responded.
"And what evidence do you have for that claim?" Kelly asked.
Kent cited "multiple confidential human informants" for the FBI and law enforcement that were in the crowd that day. He said agents of the Washington D.C. field office may have been involved.
Kelly asked Kent to provide the committee with evidence for his claims.
The FBI's Inspector General, after a four-year investigation, acknowledged that the bureau had informants in Washington D.C. at the Jan. 6, 2021 protests, which tried to halt the certification of Biden's win. But the inspector general report concluded there was no basis for claims that federal agents instigated the criminal assaults on police or the Capitol that day.
With Republicans in control of the Senate, there was little indication at the hearing that Kent's nomination would be derailed. Cotton said he intends to bring Kent up for a confirmation vote when the Senate returns from a break later this month.
The counterterrorism center coordinates U.S. strategy against terrorism and maintains a national database listing known and suspected terrorists. It operates as a partnership of organizations including the CIA, FBI and Defense Department.
Kent's nomination for the post came after he lost his second bid for congress in Southwest Washington's 3rd Congressional District. He lost to U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Washougal, in a rematch of their 2022 contest, in which she flipped the Republican-leaning district for Democrats in one of the nation's biggest upsets.