PoliticsDonald Trump Ally Joe Kent Pushed to Rewrite Intelligence So It Couldn't Be 'Used' Against President
Joe Kent's emails were leaked after he demanded that falsified intelligence documents be discussed publicly.
May 21 2025, Published 4:41 p.m. ET
Donald Trump’s administration is in hot water.
Joe Kent, top aide to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, was outed for attempting to rewrite a February assessment that detailed how president Trump couldn’t legally deport Venezuelan migrants without due process under the Alien Enemies Act.
The scandal was found in leaked emails from Kent, who urged officials to edit documents from the intelligence study to protect the president.
Joe Kent's Leaked Emails
Joe Kent wanted to protect the president by altering an intelligence study to better align with Donald Trump's views.
“We need to do some rewriting so this document is not used against the DNI or POTUS,” Kent reportedly wrote in an email addressed to a group of intelligence officials on April 3.
“Let’s just come out and say TDA [Tren de Aragua] leaders are given sanctuary in Venezuela as their gang members commit horrendous crimes in America, then we can provide the context about our exact knowledge of relationship between TDA and the Venezuelan government,” Kent wrote to National Intelligence Council chairman Michael Collins, whom he continued to probe for changes.
Joe Kent Puts Blame on Joe Biden
At the time, Joe Kent demanded the assessment be reworked within one week.
Furthermore, Kent disgraced the intelligence assessment for failing to clearly portray the situation at the southern border, claiming former president Joe Biden was at fault for allowing gang members into the U.S.
“TDA didn’t need logistical support from the Venezuelan government because Biden provided it for them,” Kent stated in the leaked emails. “I understand some may view this as political, but it’s not.”
At the time, Kent demanded that by the end of the week, officials only disclose an edited version of the study, which was later released on April 7.
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Donald Trump Invokes Alien Enemies Act
The president invoked the Alien Enemies Act in March.
Documentation of the leaked emails came after Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act in March. The rarely used wartime law was enacted in 1798 and allowed the government to remove citizens of a country that is in a declared war with the United States or otherwise invading U.S. territory.
Though Trump argued that deporting members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang was crucial for the safety of America by deporting 261 alleged Venezuelan gang members to a notorious jail in El Salvador in March, the U.S. intelligence community reportedly opposed said measures.
Mike Collins Fired by Tulsi Gabbard
Mike Collins was fired by Tulsi Gabbard.
According to the original assessments by the National Intelligence Council, intelligence officials didn’t think the TDA gang was controlled by the administration of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, nor was it committing crimes in the U.S.
After Collins agreed to rethink the February documents, Kent was so content with the changes that he ordered it to be declassified so it could be discussed publicly. It would be his reaction that would lead to the emails being leaked.
In addition, Gabbard fired Collins and his deputy at the National Intelligence Council, Maria Langan-Riekhof, for taking part in the controversial situation.
