By SEUNG MIN KIM and DAVID KLEPPER Associated Press
President Donald Trump is pushing back against claims by the director of the National Counterterrorism Center about the motivations for the Iran war. In announcing his resignation Tuesday, Joe Kent claimed Iran "posed no imminent threat" to the United States. Trump says Iran is a "tremendous threat." Kent also says it's clear the U.S. started the war "due to pressure from Israel." The Republican president previously has denied Israel forced the U.S. to act. Kent is a former Washington state political candidate with connections to right-wing extremists. As head of the National Counterterrorism Center, Kent was in charge of an agency tasked with analyzing and detecting terrorist threats.
Conservatives who filled a ballroom a few blocks from the White House have lamented that the United States is abandoning the fundamental ideals that forged a great nation. Some attendees donned red hats with various inscriptions mocking President Donald Trump and his "Make America Great Again" movement. It was the largest gathering to date of the "Principles First Summit," expanded upon Trump's return to power to welcome independents and center-left Democrats under a shared pro-democracy, anti-authoritarian aim. But there was no clear consensus consensus on whether to fight within Republican spheres at all, migrate to the Democratic Party or find a different path altogether.
