Washington DC - The Republican-led Senate recently approved President Donald Trump's nomination of Joe Kent to head the National Counterterrorism Center, despite his history of sharing conspiracy theories and ties to white nationalism.

According to AP News, Kent won the confirmation on Wednesday after a vote of 52-44, with Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina being the only Republican to vote nay.

In an X post, Kent said the win was an "honor," and vowed to use his role to "relentlessly pursue & defeat our nation's enemies."

The confirmation comes after Kent, a former Green Beret and CIA operative, ran twice for a congressional seat to represent Washington State's 3rd District.

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He lost to Democratic Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in 2022 and again in 2024, despite having a strong endorsement from Trump.

In recent months, he has been working as chief of staff to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

During a confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee back in April, Kent said that as head of the center, he would be "committed to identifying these cartels and these violent gang members and making sure that we locate them and that we get them out of our country."

Since Trump announced his nomination of Kent back in February, critics on the left have aggressively opposed it, pointing to his past ties to far-right and white nationalist figures, as well as his pushing of conspiracy theories surrounding the January 6 Capitol riots and false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.

At his confirmation hearing, Kent refused to distance himself from such conspiracy theories.

Democrats also pressed him on his push for the Trump administration to be able to deport members of Venezuelan gangs under the Alien Enemies Act, despite the move being blocked by a judge.

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia argued that any counterterrorism director "must be trusted to tell the truth and to uphold the core principles of the intelligence community: Objectivity, nonpartisanship, and fidelity to fact," a standard Kent has "shown time and again that he cannot meet."