By contrast, the intelligence community’s ability to offer a “sanity check” when briefing the president “was largely stifled in this second iteration,” Kent said. A senior Trump administration official told CNN on Tuesday that the White House previously sidelined Kent from participating in the president’s intelligence briefings, including those related to Iran. There was none of that intelligence,” Kent said. He cast Rubio’s thinking as flawed, because, he said, there was no reason to believe Iran was going to attack without being provoked. “I spoke with him before I departed the administration,” Kent told Carlson, adding, “It went great.

Source: CNN March 19, 2026 03:50 UTC