President Donald Trump was given a blunt reminder of his own past after he shamed Joe Kent, the former National Counterterrorism Center director who recently resigned over the war with Iran, saying Kent had remarried too quickly after the death of his first wife.
Kent, a former Green Beret and political candidate with ties to right-wing extremists, was confirmed last July in a 52–44 vote to lead the National Counterterrorism Center, where he oversaw efforts to analyze and detect terrorist threats.
He turned in his resignation last week, saying 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."
In response, Trump defended the Iran strikes, saying "many of the greatest military scholars have been saying for years that presidents should have taken out Iran because they wanted a nuclear weapon." Trump called Kent "weak on security" and said Kent "seemed like a nice guy but when I read his statement I realized it's a good thing that he's out."
When asked if he believes Kent was leaking information, Trump said that he was “not a fan of the guy," suggesting Kent, whom he says was "once for everything," had betrayed the administration in speaking out.
Then he said Kent had remarried too quickly after the death of his wife, Shannon, a Navy intelligence officer who was killed in a 2019 suicide bombing in Syria.:
“He was a man that I met at Dover [Air Force Base]. He came when his wife was killed. He remarried fairly quickly."
You can hear what Trump said in the video below.
Trump's remark doesn't make sense: Kent married artist Heather Kaiser more than four years after the death of Shannon.
And those criticisms don't mean much given Trump's history, such as the fact he was at the center of a campaign finance fraud scandal regarding his relationship with adult film star Stormy Daniels, who he paid off to keep quiet about their affair, which took place after his wife, Melania, gave birth to their son Barron.
Trump would later be convicted on 34 felony counts, including falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to Daniels to illegally influence the 2016 election.
Trump has also been married three times and cheated on all of his wives. He was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll. He is also deeply implicated in the Epstein files scandal for his long association with Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier, pedophile, and sex trafficker.
Many called him out.
Last year, Trump attacked Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie for getting remarried in October following the death of his first wife in 2024—prompting his own party to call him out for going too far.
Massie, who has challenged the Trump administration over the Epstein scandal, announced he'd married his wife, Carolyn Grace Moffa, in late October. His first wife and "high school sweetheart," Rhonda Howard Massie, died in June 2024. In response, Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social that Massie's wife "will soon find out that she's stuck with a LOSER!"
Notably, Trump's post came after he and Massie spent recent days trading barbs over documents tied to Epstein. Trump blasted “stupid” Republicans for backing a petition that would force a vote on making the files public.
Massie said his wife joked that Trump is "mad he didn't get an invitation" to their recent wedding, saying Trump is "being a bully or trying to be a bully."
