A senior Democrat has called on Joe Kent, director of the US National Counterterrorism Center and a far-right political figure, to testify to Congress about why he resigned from his job over the war on Iran.
California representative Ro Khanna’s call came after Kent, a supporter of Trump, wrote on X that “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation” before blaming Israel.
“The American people deserve to know why this Administration dragged us into war in Iran,” Khanna wrote on social media. “Joe Kent should come before Congress. If even officials like Joe Kent do not believe Iran posed an imminent threat, why are we sending more Americans to die in this war?”
Senator Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, also reacted to the resignation, writing on X: “A top national security official resigns and confirms that Iran posed no imminent threat. Good riddance to Joe Kent, a disgraceful white supremacist, but that’s a major public admission that there was NO justification for this war.”
Here are the key stories of the day at a glance.
Trump counter-terrorism chief quits over Iran war, blaming Israel
Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center and a far-right political figure and supporter of Donald Trump, resigned from his position on Tuesday in protest of the war in Iran.
“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Kent wrote in a resignation letter posted to X. “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
UK security adviser at US-Iran talks judged deal was within reach
Britain’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, attended the final talks between the US and Iran and judged that the offer made by Tehran on its nuclear programme was significant enough to prevent a rush to war, the Guardian can reveal.
Powell thought progress had been made in Geneva and that the deal proposed by Iran was “surprising”, according to sources.
Two days after the talks ended, and after a date had been agreed for a further round of technical talks in Vienna, the US and Israel launched the attack on Iran.
Pam Bondi subpoenaed over Epstein files release by House committee
Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, has been formally subpoenaed to appear before a House panel to answer questions about the justice department’s handling of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and its release of the Epstein files.
Trump relied on unverified intelligence to blame Iran for deadly school strike
Donald Trump’s attempt to blame Iran for the deadly strike on an elementary school stemmed from an early US intelligence assessment that initially suggested the missile was Iranian but was almost immediately dismissed, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Trump administration to slash fee to renounce US citizenship from $2,350 to $450
The Trump administration has agreed to take a financial loss in order to make it easier for Americans to walk away from their US citizenship.
In April, the cost to formally renounce citizenship will plunge from $2,350 to just $450, below the actual cost to the government of processing the requests – but fulfilling a years-long promise to reverse an unpopular fee adopted in 2015.
US Senate heeds Trump’s call to debate restrictive Save America act voting bill
The Senate on Tuesday voted 51-48 to begin debate on the Save America act, a rebranded version of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility act, or the Save Act, which has been circulating through Congress in some iteration for more than two years.
What else happened today:
Illinois voters on Tuesday will decide between a crowded field of Democratic candidates vying to be the state’s next senator as the midwestern state also nominates candidates for five open congressional seats.
Oil and gas prices have risen again after Iran carried out attacks on production facilities for the first time since the start of the war with the US and Israel.
The chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, said on Tuesday that hostility directed in personal terms at judges is “dangerous, and it’s got to stop”. The comment came just days after Donald Trump’s latest social media broadside against judges who have ruled against him and his administration.
Oil has begun to flow from a controversial California pipeline system for the first time in more than a decade following a Trump administration order, despite state officials decrying the move.
Donald Trump expects to have “the honour of taking Cuba”, he declared, after a US-imposed oil blockade plunged the country into darkness under a total power blackout.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on Monday, 16 March.
