'Botswana?' Kent spars with Levin over claim made about Charlie Kirk's assassination

By Fox News · Fox News

Former counterterrorism official Joe Kent sparred with conservative radio host and Fox News personality Mark Levin in a heated interview Monday, as Levin pressed him over past comments suggesting potential foreign links to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and also Iran. Levin challenged Kent to clarify whether he was implicating a specific country, potentially Israel, in relation to Kirk's death, at one point asking, "What are you talking about there — Botswana?" as he pushed him to explain his earlier remarks. Levin was referencing Kent’s prior public comments, in which he raised the possibility that Kirk’s killing could have foreign connections tied to his opposition to war with Iran. INSIDE JOE KENT’S ABRUPT FALL AS GOP BACKLASH GROWS OVER ANTISEMITISM ACCUSATIONS, FBI PROBE Kent replied: "Charlie was advocating for us not to go to war with Iran and to rethink our relationship with the Israelis, and then he was killed. This needs to be looked into. That’s all I can say." "There were foreign leads that we didn’t get a chance to look into," he added. "From my vantage point at the National Counterterrorism Center, that was not thoroughly looked into." In past interviews, Kent has pointed to social media posts made before the attack against Kirk and suggested authorities should examine whether any individuals had prior knowledge or made threats. On Thomas Matthew Crooks and the attempted assassination of Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, Kent said: "We should investigate to see if there’s any linkage, particularly between Iran and the Iranian agent who was convicted for plotting an assassination attempt against President Trump." Elsewhere in the interview Levin pressed Kent on leaking allegations, breaking with the Trump administration over Iran, and claiming Israel "forced President Trump into this war." "I never leaked any classified information," Kent said, as Levin pressed him on reports that he was under investigation by the FBI for leaking. Three…