Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday addressed the resignation of a top intelligence aide who objected to President Donald Trump’s war with Iran.
“The president has said this, I’ve said this,” Vance said during a campaign-style event in Michigan, per The Hill. “Nobody likes war, and I guarantee the president of the United States is not interested in getting us in the kind of long term, quagmires that we’ve seen in years past.”
The vice president added: “I know the president. I know the way that he thinks about America’s national security. That is not at risk with this president at all.”
Vance spoke after being asked about the resignation on of Joe Kent, who headed up the United States National Counterterrorism Center.
Kent objected to the Iran war and in resigning said that “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation.”
Vance said that Trump had consistently said that Iran could not obtain a nuclear weapon.
The veep said: “That’s all this is about. We do not want the Iranians to have a nuclear weapon.”
Vance acknowledged that he knows and likes Kent, and said that Trump appreciates hearing different opinions.
Said Vance: “That said, whatever your view is, when the president of the United States makes a decision, it’s your job to help make that decision as effective and successful as possible.”
“The president said this yesterday, if you are on the team and you can’t help implement the decisions of his administration, he has the right to make those decisions, then it’s a good thing for you to resign,” Vance continued. “And I think that’s exactly right. It’s fine to disagree, but once the president makes a decision, it’s up to everybody who serves in his administration to make it as successful as possible. That’s how I do my job and I think that’s how everybody in the administration should do their job, too.”
Politico reported that Vance, long a critic of American entanglements overseas, was a “skeptical” voice in the administration when it came to launching military action against Iran.
Trump on Monday had said that Vance “was, I’d say, philosophically a little different from me. I think he was maybe less enthusiastic about going, but he was still quite enthusiastic.”
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