Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said its team was “officially activated” by the State Department earlier Friday.

“From the moment we learned of this tragedy, our team has remained on standby, ready to respond. Many in our community have family, friends, and loved ones in Venezuela, making this mission especially meaningful,” Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said in a statement.

The team from Florida will consist of 80 personnel and six canine teams.

The two federal search and rescue teams that were sent to Venezuela at max deployment levels are currently on the ground there pulling people from collapsed buildings, ABC News reported on  Saturday.

“We heard that survivors were found in the last few hours, and they’re going to work as hard as they can over the next few days out in the field,” the official told ABC News.

The official then said that two teams from Miami-Dade, Florida, had been activated and federalized; marking the first time in over a decade the State Department had deployed USAR teams beyond USA-1 and USA-2.

The senior administration official announced that U.S. teams had repaired one of the runways at Simón Bolivar airport.

In addition to $150 million already committed to the Venezuela earthquakes response, the official said the Trump administration was preparing “an additional package right now of nine figures that we’re going to announce in the next day or so.”

“They reaffirmed their commitment to supporting the response efforts by sending rescue workers, specialist equipment, support for temporary shelters and humanitarian aid for the affected families. We are deeply grateful for this gesture of friendship and cooperation,” Rodriguez added.

US search teams arrive in Venezuela

The first plane with U.S. search and rescue crews arrived in Venezuela Friday, according to officials.

The 80-member team includes firefighters, doctors and structural engineers as well as search and rescue canines, according to Urban Search and Rescue Virginia Task Force 1.

Virginia Task Force 1 Urban Search and Rescue members are en route to Venezuela deploying 79 Urban Search and Rescue personnel, six K9 teams, and more than 70,000 pounds of specialized rescue and medical equipment.

Virginia Task Force 1 Urban Search and Rescue

The team will being sent to the “hardest-hit areas,” according to the U.S. Embassy in Caracas.

“Priorities include establishing a base of operations & working with the Venezuelan authorities to ensure our operations meet their needs,” Urban Search and Rescue Virginia Task Force 1 said in an X post.

US ‘surging’ military assets to assist in Venezuela

U.S. Southern Command said it is “surging” military forces in the region to assist in earthquake relief efforts.

Two U.S. Navy ships and aircraft in the Caribbean have been assigned to support the U.S. quake relief operations in Venezuela that are being led by the State Department, the command said.

The amphibious ships USS Fort Lauderdale and the littoral combat ships USS Billings are being moved closer to Venezuela to provide assistance.

Residents search for victims through the rubble of a collapsed building in Catia La Mar, La Guaira state,

In addition, transport aircraft and helicopters are being sent.

“These forces will provide specialized mobility services and support to U.S. government personnel, search and rescue teams, and U.S. interagency partners as they assess damage, locate the injured, and deliver critical, life-saving assistance,” SOUTHCOM said in a statement.

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The transcript of Bill Gates’ testimony was released. Gates told lawmakers he believed the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was preparing to blackmail him over his extramarital affairs. The Department of Justice said last year it found no credible evidence that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals.

Bill Gates tells Oversight panel that meeting with Epstein was a ‘grave error in judgment’

“I was not blackmailed, but, you know, as you look at these emails, you know, it looks like Mr. Epstein’s brainstorming was going in that direction,” Gates said about materials from the Epstein files released earlier this year by the Department of Justice. “It appears that in many cases he, at least in emails to himself, was sort of rehearsing how either he or he coaching someone else might choose to blackmail me, but none of those messages were ever sent to me.”

After Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates tried to end his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender attempted to use compromising information about Gates’ extramarital affairs to force his way back into Gates’ life — but never explicitly threatened him, Gates told the House Oversight Committee earlier this month, according to a transcript of the closed-door session released Tuesday.

Gates, according to the transcript, said Epstein used an adviser to send him “veiled” threats, appeared to coach Gates’ adviser on how to potentially blackmail him, and mixed fact and fiction to leverage compromising information against the software billionaire.

During the interview, Gates acknowledged having at least three extramarital affairs, though he said that Epstein was involved with none of the women and that Epstein only learned about them after he and Epstein had cut ties.

Gates told lawmakers that his interactions with Epstein were limited to business, that he never witnessed Epstein commit a crime, and that he did not suspect that the women who were traveling with the disgraced financier were victims of sex trafficking. Asked about photos showing him with some of Epstein’s victims, Gates said Epstein occasionally asked to take photographs of Gates with women who Gates said he believed were Epstein’s assistants.

“I have never victimized anyone. While he may have sought to foster a personal relationship, I was never interested in that and never reciprocated,” Gates told lawmakers.

Gates told the Oversight panel that he first began to meet with Epstein in 2011 because he thought the financier’s purported connections with the wealthy could help advance the Gates Foundation’s global health work. When they first began to meet, Gates said he was aware of Epstein’s “bad reputation stemming from his criminal conviction,” but continued to see Epstein.

“I was aware that he had a criminal conviction,” Gates said. “I knew that it was of a sexual nature, but, no, I don’t think I knew, dug into the specifics, although I probably should have.” 

Gates said he only became aware of the full extent of Epstein’s crimes in 2018 after the Miami Herald’s in-depth reporting on Epstein’s lenient deal with federal prosecutors.

Gates said he thought the other high-profile individuals with whom Epstein socialized helped create an “image of legitimacy,” acknowledging that his own relationship with Epstein likely bolstered that image.

“I was so focused on the possibility of raising funds for global health that I allowed that goal to override my better judgment,” Gates said. “If the time I spent with Epstein lent him credibility, I am deeply sorry. I’ve learned a significant lesson and am now far more careful about who I engage with, even in a limited capacity.” 

Describing Epstein as a “dilettante” with a surface-level knowledge of science and academics, Gates said that Epstein suggested he “provided advice to lots of billionaires” who might be able to advance philanthropic causes.

“He talked about Wall Street billionaires, he talked about Middle East billionaires. He made it sound very extensive … maybe for me to have a good impression of him,” Gates said.

While Gates insisted that his meetings with Epstein “weren’t social,” he recounted that some of those dinners involved “wide ranging discussion” with academics and bankers, including one dinner that included entertainment from magician David Blaine. Gates also said that Epstein repeatedly invited him to his private island, as well as an erotic show in Paris — invites that Gates said he refused.

According to Gates, his science adviser claimed they could likely go backstage to meet some of the performers that Epstein had dated, but Gates said he did not want to be spotted at an erotic show with Epstein.

“It wasn’t consistent with the relationship I had with Epstein,” Gates said. “I guess not only is my appearing at an erotic event a risk to my reputation, it would be compounded by appearing with somebody who, although I didn’t know the full extent of it, had been convicted of a sexually related crime.”

After occasionally meeting with Epstein for about three years, Gates said he began to express concerns that Epstein was “stringing” him along with his claims that he could deliver “meaningful philanthropic support.” According to Gates, Epstein set up a series of meetings in 2014 with high-profile individuals including hotel billionaire Thomas Pritzker, media billionaire Mort Zuckerman, and private equity investor Leon Black to demonstrate his connections to purportedly help Gates’ philanthropy work, though Gates said the meetings were a “dead end.”

“At that point, I concluded Epstein would never deliver on his promises. I told him we would go no further and stopped communicating or meeting with him,” Gates told the panel. 

After Gates tried to cut ties with Epstein in 2014, he said the disgraced financier attempted to force his way back into his life, including by leveraging his knowledge of Gates’ extramarital affairs.

While Gates said he never disclosed the affairs to Epstein, he speculated that Epstein learned about the indiscretions through his relationship with Gates’ science adviser Boris Nikolic. Gates said that Nikolic was aware of the affairs because of their close relationship, including at least one instance when he used meeting with Nikolic as an alibi to rendezvous with one of the women.

“One time it was a scheduling thing, when we were in London, where I said to him I was going to disappear and wanted him to show that I was meeting with him at that time,” Gates said.

When Nikolic began the process of leaving the Gates Foundation, he engaged Epstein to help him negotiate the terms of his departure, Gates said. Epstein traveled to Seattle at one point to assist in Nikolic’s negotiation, Gates said, and Nikolic eventually began to make “veiled” threats via email.

“It’s hard to characterize the Epstein stuff because there was never a direct threat of any kind. There was always this veiled language like ‘we should remain friends,’ you know, which made me wonder what Dr. Nikolic had shared with him,” Gates said.

Asked about two draft emails released by the Department of Justice seemingly written by Epstein on behalf of Nikolic, Gates said the notes — which vaguely referenced the affairs and suggested that Gates has contracted a sexually transmitted disease — appeared to be part of a plot to attempt to “blackmail” him.

While Gates acknowledged at least three affairs, he explicitly denied contracting a sexually transmitted disease from the affairs, suggesting Epstein mixed falsehoods with known compromising information to use as leverage.

“If those emails that contained some truth and some false things were ever sent, then we could say there was an attempt at blackmail that never happened,” Gates said.

After he severed his relationship with Epstein, Gates claimed that the disgraced financier attempted to force his way back into his orbit, including by seeking reimbursement for money he claimed to have paid a woman with whom Gates had an affair. He told lawmakers that Epstein had nothing to do with the relationship and said he was unaware of any money that Epstein may have paid the woman, telling lawmakers that he believed the requests for payment were a “tactic [for Epstein] to reengage” him.

“I’d never asked him to do anything with respect to the person we’re discussing, so I was rather surprised. That was the first time I knew explicitly that he’d become aware of that affair,” Gates told lawmakers.

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Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday, made the announcement outside the prime minister’s 10 Downing St. residence, said he would resign as the leader of his party and as prime minister, setting the stage for the United Kingdom’s seventh prime minister within a decade.

“The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election,” he said outside 10 Downing Street. “I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and I accept that answer with good grace.”

Keir Starmer  who said, he spoke on Monday with King Charles, said he expected to remain in office until a successor was chosen from within his Labour Party.

Starmer said he asked party leaders to open nominations for a successor on July 9. He did not give a date for his departure from 10 Downing Street, but said he expected a new prime minister to be in place by September, when Parliament returns from its summer recess.

Starmer was elected to lead the country in a general election 2024. His replacement is expected to be chosen by his party. He had been led the Labor since 2020.

“People want to see progress on economic growth, cost of living, public services, housing and opportunities for the next generation,” Starmer said. “Political change should never distract from the responsibility to improve people’s lives.”

Starmer long said he intended to see out his full five-year term, which began with his party’s 2024 landslide election victory, which also delivered Labour a historic majority in the House of Commons.

The resignation announcement followed months of turmoil for Starmer, with some members of his own party criticizing his leadership, saying he had not been able to deliver the rapid change needed after taking office following 14 years of Conservative Party rule in Britain.

Many in Starmer’s Labour party had written to Starmer asking him to step down following local elections in May, which saw the party lose more than 1,000 seats on local councils, results that were widely interpreted as a repudiation by British voters of Labour’s performance under the prime minister’s leadership.

Andy Burnham  who won a special election on Friday to become a member of parliament representing Makerfield, was expected to be sworn in in the House of Commons on Monday.

Following Starmer’s announcement, Burnham said on social media that he would seek a nomination in the Labour leadership contest.

Starmer is the sixth prime minister in a decade to stand outside 10 Downing Street and announce a premature departure. It comes the day before Britain marks the 10th anniversary of its vote to leave the European Union, a decision that still roils the country’s economy and politics.

U.S. President Donald Trump weighed in even before an announcement, linking Starmer’s potential exit to two of his recurring bugbears: immigration and renewable energy.

“Keir Starmer will resign as Prime Minister of The United Kingdom. He failed badly on two very important subjects- IMMIGRATION AND ENERGY (OPEN NORTH SEA OIL!). I wish him well! President DJT,” Trump posted on his social media platform.

It was unclear whether Trump was responding to media reports about Starmer’s plans. The two leaders didn’t speak over the weekend.

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“I think most parents will welcome this action,” Starmer said. “They will welcome a government that stands by them, that supports them to do the best for their children, and that fights for their happiness and safety against the most powerful companies in the world.”

The ex-Love Island personality Georgia Harrison — who described the plans as “absolutely amazing” — and more than a dozen parents from Smartphone Free Childhood.

Molly Rose Foundation, along with 5Rights, youth-led digital wellbeing charity FlippGen, and other civil society voices who’ve warned blanket bans are a blunt instrument that risk doing more harm than good, were kept away from the fanfare, and only invited to a later technical briefing run by officials from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

Smartphone Free Childhood, which describes itself as a movement of families “standing together to delay [access to] smartphones and social media,” has long been agitating for precisely the kind of action outlined Monday.  

According to a previous report by POLITICO back in January, the charity used its 100,000 person-strong network of WhatsApp groups to organize a grassroots lobbying blitz that saw MPs flooded with messages from concerned parents urging them to back a ban. 

The U.K.’s online safety regime has already been a boon for the industry, thanks to provisions under the Online Safety Act that require services to introduce age checks to prevent children from encountering pornography and other types of “primary priority” content. 

Now more age-gates are coming — across social media, but also a wide range of services that allow livestreaming and communication with strangers, plus AI chatbots specifically designed for sexually-explicit interactions.

Two, since Ofcom is now carrying out a rapid study on what effective age assurance looks like for the purpose of verifying whether someone is over 16, there could be tighter regulation coming down the track, which is good for companies worried about cheaper but less accurate or privacy-preserving offerings, and bad for those that have so far largely escaped scrutiny.

Secondary legislation — increasingly the government’s preferred tool — is particularly vulnerable to judicial review, and concerns have already been raised about the human rights impacts of blanket bans.

Digital rights activists fear the rapid expansion of poorly regulated age checks will create a backdoor for more intensive surveillance and increase the risk of mass data breaches — and don’t trust the U.K.’s data protection watchdog to take action.

They aren’t fans of Big Tech, of course, but argue the government has failed to take a rights-respecting approach to regulation.

Watch this space. On Friday evening, a group of content creators and activists from the U.K., U.S., EU, Canada, and India met virtually to discuss the launch of a new global movement called “Stop Killing the Internet” in response to jurisdictions the world over converging around the ban playbook, a person on the call told POLITICO.

“The talk is that a Rubicon has been crossed and a line in the sand has to be drawn,” they said. The website went live shortly after Starmer’s announcement, and the campaign will launch in less then two weeks’ time.

Ofcom already has its hands full regulating the more than 100,000 services in scope of the Online Safety Act, parts of which aren’t even in force yet.

Now there’s even more to do, as its group director for online safety Oliver Griffiths acknowledged would be the case last month. Many of the proposals outlined by the government in its kids’ online safety consultation “create new duties and require comprehensive policy work to implement,” he said.

 “The Government has entrusted us to build on this progress with new measures to protect children, and we’re ready to work closely with them as the detailed regulations take shape,” a spokesperson said in a statement Monday.

‘Safety by design’

The government’s decision to kick kids off social media suggests it buys the argument — at least in the short term — that platforms can’t be made age-appropriate through regulation. 

“We remain of the view that banning children from social media platforms without addressing the underlying, unsafe and addictive design choices made by tech companies that place profit before safety and well-being will not make them safer,” the Online Safety Act Network’s director Maeve Walsh said.

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A substituted player must exit the field within 10 seconds. If there’s a delay, the team plays a man down for at least one minute before the replacement can enter the field.

There are now five-second countdowns for goal kicks and throw-ins. The team ahead at the end of a game is often slow to put the ball back in play. If a goalkeeper or defending player takes too long on a goal kick, the referee could award a corner kick to the other team. Likewise, if a player deliberately delays a throw-in, the opposing team could be given the throw-in instead.

The chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, Pierluigi Collina, has long focused on time-wasting during games. At the last World Cup, four years ago in Qatar, he ensured that stoppage time was properly added during the competition. Some 90-minute matches saw as much as a half hour of added time.

VAR, the video assistant referee, will have more opportunities to review calls during the game. These include the proper awarding of corner kicks, analysis to determine whether a player was in an offside position and a review of a second yellow card resulting in the send-off of a player.

There’s another technological improvement that viewers will notice at this World Cup: Officials will wear an eye-level video headset, so fans can see a replay of the action as the referee saw it during key decisions.

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“Remember … Iran declared war on us 47 years ago. They chant ‘death to America.’ The president is trying to keep the people safe,” Johnson told reporters. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., defended President Trump’s decision to attack Iran ahead of the vote.

The conflict began on Feb 28 with strikes by U.S. and Israeli forces on Iran. Under the 1973 War Powers Act, the president has 60 days to end hostilities if there has been no congressional authorization – though he is able to seek a 30-day extension. The same law also gives Congress the ability to end hostilities by voting on a resolution to end military action, subject to presidential veto.

The resolution had originally been set for a vote two weeks ago, but Republican leaders sent House members home early for a May recess when it appeared the largely Democratic-backed measure had enough Republican votes for passage. However, the extended break didn’t shift GOP support to kill the measure.

The vote is mostly symbolic. Democrats, despite multiple attempts, have been unable to pass a war powers resolution through the Republican-led Senate. Even if the measure passed in Congress, it would almost certainly be vetoed by President Trump, whose administration has questioned the constitutionality of the War Powers Act.

In the Senate, Democrats are hopeful their efforts may be gaining momentum. Last month, they won support on a procedural measure to set up a war powers vote after a handful of Republicans broke ranks to join them. A final vote has yet to be scheduled.

President Trump blasted the vote in a post on social media Thursday. He wrote:

“Yesterday, in a meaningless vote, the House voted, 4 bad Republicans and all of the Dumocrats, to limit my War Powers, right in the middle of my final negotiations to end the War with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Who would do such an unpatriotic thing. They know where the negotiations stand. The Democrats are fueled by Trump Derangement Syndrome. They would rather have our Country fail than give me another, of many, victories. The four Republicans, that’s a whole other story – They’re GRANDSTANDERS! They should be ashamed of themselves. MAGA!!! President DJT.”

The administration has furiously pushed against the effort in both the House and Senate. Wednesday’s vote signals his support for the war may be slipping even among some members of his own party.

Now more than 90 days into the conflict, some Republicans have expressed frustration that the war does not appear to have a clear end in sight. Talks to end the war have yet to gain clear traction, casting doubt on a fragile ceasefire. Just hours before the vote, Iran and the U.S. traded strikes in the Persian Gulf.

Fitzpatrick was joined in supporting the resolution by three other Republicans: Tom Barrett of Michigan, Ohio’s Warren Davidson and Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

Following the Iran vote, top Republicans were also rebuked on a measure to provide aid to Ukraine. Six Republicans joined Democrats to move the measure forward, setting it up for a vote for final passage.

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Over the weekend, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern.” The declaration, which is a lower designation than the pandemic emergency that was declared for Covid-19, is intended to promote international cooperation and mobilize resources to the outbreak.

As of May 16, WHO said there have been 246 suspected cases and 80 suspected deaths reported in Ituri Province of the DRC, and two laboratory-confirmed cases in Uganda tied to travel from the DRC.

In a statement The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted to its website, the agency said it would impose “entry restrictions” on passengers who do not hold a U.S. passport if they have been to Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo or South Sudan in the previous 21 days. Those restrictions, issued under a Title 42 order, a policy that allows the U.S. to deny certain individuals entry into the country to protect public health, will be in effect for one month.

The restrictions come the same day that the CDC confirmed on a call with reporters that one American has tested positive for Ebola. The person was exposed “as part of their work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” said Satish K. Pillai, the incident manager for CDC’s Ebola response.

That individual is being transported to Germany for treatment, Pillai added, citing the shorter flight time and Germany’s “previous experience for caring for Ebola patients.”

The CDC is also enhancing screening and monitoring of people coming from Ebola outbreak areas and is coordinating with airlines, international partners and port-of-entry officials to identify individuals who may have been exposed to the virus.

CDC regularly issues travel guidance during infectious disease outbreaks. The agency still considers the risk to the general public in the U.S. to be low.

The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which has no approved vaccine or treatments. The world health organization (WHO) estimates the strain has a 30 to 50 percent fatality rate, based on two prior Bundibugyo outbreaks. The disease, which is spread through contact with bodily fluids, causes flu-like symptoms followed by diarrhea, vomiting and unexplained bleeding.

On the Monday call, the CDC said it had approximately 25 individuals in the CDC’s DRC country office and was sending a senior technical coordinator at the DRC’s request to aid the outbreak response.

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President Donald Trump confirmed on March 29 that he would allow a Russian tanker to supply Cuba despite the blockade against the island.

“I told them if a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with that, whether it’s Russia or no,” Trump told reporters March 29 aboard Air Force One. “Whether or not they get a boat of oil, it’s not going to matter. I’d prefer letting it in, whether it’s Russia or anybody else, because the people need heat and cooling and everything else.”

The United States has blocked shipments from Venezuela, which supported Cuba before the U.S. removed its former leader, Nicolas Maduro. Ship-tracking data showed the sanctioned Russian-flagged tanker, Anatoly ⁠Kolodkin, was just off the eastern tip of Cuba and due to reach the port of Matanzas on March 30, Reuters reported, citing Cuban news site Cuba debate.

However, Trump repeated his vow that Cuba would be next, which critics have worried could mean military action against the island nation after the military removal of Venezuela’s leader and the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. By “next,” Trump has said that could mean helping free it or “taking it.”

Trump’s latest comments marked a stark change from January.  After removing Maduro, Trump had said on social media Jan. 11: “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO!” He also signed an executive order Jan. 29 threatening new duties on countries that provided oil to Cuba.

The oil would provide relief to Cuba, which, according to President Miguel Diaz-Canel, has not received any oil imports for three months. The lack of oil led to strict rationing of gasoline and worsened an energy crisis that resulted in power outages across Cuba.

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The move makes Trump the first sitting president to have his signature on American paper currency.

“The President’s mark on history as the architect of America’s Golden Age economic revival is undeniable. Printing his signature on the American currency is not only appropriate, but also well deserved,” Treasurer Brandon Beach said in a statement.

 “There is no more powerful way to recognize the historic achievements of our great country and President Donald J. Trump than U.S. dollar bills bearing his name, and it is only appropriate that this historic currency be issued at the Semiquincentennial,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

This is not the first time the Trump’s signature and name will be closely attached to money in Americans’ pockets. Last year, the administration initiated “Trump checks,” or seeded, tax-free investment accounts for American children born between 2025 and 2028. And during the early days of the Covid lockdown, stimulus checks to all American’s bore the president’s signature.

The Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment on the duration of the change or where on bills the signature will appear, though the official announcement did note that the signature would appear on “future” U.S. paper currency “along with” the Treasury secretary’s signature, which is on the bottom right of the face of bills.

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Joe Kent, who announced his resignation on Tuesday, also said that he thinks President Donald Trump knows the war “is not going well.”

“The Israelis drove the decision to take this action, which we knew would set off a series of events, meaning the Iranians would retaliate,” Kent said in a nearly two-hour-long interview that aired Wednesday evening.

“The Israelis felt emboldened and that no matter what they did, no matter what situation they put us in, that they could go ahead and take this action and we would just have to react,” he added. 

Kent is a combat veteran who served more than 20 years in the U.S. Army and completed 11 combat deployments in the Middle East.

Kent oversaw the U.S. counterterrorism and counternarcotics enterprise and, according to his biography, he served as the principal counterterrorism adviser to the president. He was confirmed as director of the National Counterterrorism Center in a narrow 52-44 vote in the Senate last July.

During the interview with Carlson, Kent said there was no intel that Iran was planning a strike on the U.S. without the U.S. first launching an attack on them.

“There was no intelligence that said, ‘Hey, on whatever day it was, March 1, the Iranians are going to launch this big sneak attack. They’re going to do some kind of a 9/11, Pearl Harbor, etc. They’re going to attack one of our bases. There was none of that intelligence,” Kent claimed.

Trump, in the several justifications he’s given for starting the war on Iran, has repeatedly said Tehran posed an “imminent threat” to the U.S. and that the U.S. was “very nearly under threat.”

In his interview with Carlson, Kent said that before he resigned, he had “not the best conversation” with Trump to explain his reason for resigning, but that the president was “respectful” and that he thinks they remain on “good terms.”

“I think the president is someone who listens, and so I think he’s listening not necessarily just to me and to you, but I think he is listening to a lot of different people, because I think he knows at a core level, this is not going well, and he needs to find a way for us to get out of this,” Kent said.

The former top counterterrorism official said a “clear” endgame has not been presented to Americans.

“Americans want to know why we’re going to war, what the end state is, and they can get on board in general, if that’s clearly articulated. That’s not the case with Iran,” Kent said.

Kent said he made his decision to resign over the weekend because his dissenting opinions about the war weren’t “getting through,” adding that the rising American service member death toll was his “real breaking point.”

“I know this path that we’re on, it doesn’t work. I’ve seen enough data. It’s time to do something different,” he said.

In his resignation letter, Kent accused Israel of mounting a “misinformation” campaign to “deceive” Trump into launching this war. He blamed Washington’s decision to attack on “pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

In the interview with Carlson, Kent offered unfounded conspiracies about Israel’s efforts to pressure the U.S. — including a suggestion Israel may have been behind the assassination of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk, known for his opposition to war with Iran, and even the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump. 

Carlson is known to trade in conspiracies and has been outspoken about his objections to the war in Iran.

Trump on Tuesday reacted to Kent’s letter while answering questions from reporters in the Oval Office, saying, “I always thought he was a nice guy.”

“Well, I read his statement. I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security,” Trump said. “I didn’t know him well, but I thought he seemed like a pretty nice guy.”

“But when I read a statement, I realized that it’s a good thing that he’s out,” Trump added. “Because he said that Iran was not a threat. Iran was a threat. Every country realized what a threat Iran was. The question is whether or not they wanted to do something about it. And many people, many of the greatest military scholars, are saying for years that [the] president should have taken out Iran because they wanted a nuclear weapon.”

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