President Trump’s candidate is subject to the presidency of the National Center for Combating Terrorism, as emails show that he pressed for senior intelligence analysts to amend the evaluation of links between the Venezuelan government and the criminal gang, Arajwa trainKnown as TDA, to align the evaluation more closely with the Trump administration policies and includes the references that criticize immigration programs in the Biden era.
He requested the emails obtained by the CBS News Joe Kent, who is currently the Chief of Staff for the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, to “rewriting” from a memorandum on the subject composed by the National Intelligence Council, a team of experts in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that produces high -level assessments of use by Policymakers.
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After CBS contacted the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for Comment, a spokesman for the participation of a selection of e -mail exchanges that was partially raised in Kent showed that it was fully published. The ODNI file, “was approved for the general release by ODNI on May 16, 2025.” It is not clear how comprehensively or reflected the overall deliberation on the evaluation issued for the e -mail issued by ODNI.
Read the e -mail exchange that ODNI here: Odni 1 file and Odni 2 file.
On Thursday, Kent personally published a statement about X defending his actions, and wrote, “I am honored to do my role.”
The final note, dated April 7, confirms that the Maduro system in Venezuela “may not have a policy to cooperate with TDA and does not direct TDA movement to operations and operations in the United States.” The secrecy was subsequently removed from the evaluation and publicly issued on May 5, after the Freedom of Information Law was requested by the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
The question of whether the Venezuela government controls TDA in a center Judicial disputes It surrounds the Trump administration’s ability to deport suspected gang members in light of rarely used Foreign enemies Law in 1798. President Trump Call the verb In an advertisement in March, they are effective with the effectiveness of suspected gang members as war enemies in the United States government.
Soon after the signature of the advertisement, the administration used the verb to Removing 137 Venezuelan To prison in El Salvador.
Kent wrote on April 3, using specializations to refer to the National Intelligence Director, “The producer is likely to refer to a safe contact platform and exchange information used in the American intelligence community.
In Email on April 3, Kent criticized a draft memorandum from IC – the intelligence community – for its leadership with “the weak speaking that he says we cannot prove this by smoking Gun Intel that the ruler of the color is TDA, which makes it seem like a color ruler has nothing to do with TDA,” according to its text. He later added: “Another major issue I have with the analysis in this article is the absence of a context on the state of the border and migration policy over the past four years.”
“I understand that some may be seen as political but not, it is a simple that can be verified that we cannot overlook,” he wrote.
“Go ahead, we need to implement the above changes and merge the FBI’s evaluation of the TDA relationship with GOV into the foreground, then move to the rest of the document,” Kent wrote.
He notes the view of the FBI, which appears on page 2 of the final memorandum, that the office analysts “agree” with the evaluation of the broader intelligence community that the Maduro government does not direct the TDA movement but an evaluation.some Venezuelan government officials facilitate the migration of TDA members from Venezuela “with the aim of destabilizing the United States and other governments.
The evaluation of the intelligence community, “Most of IC judges, notes that intelligence indicates that regime leaders are directing or enabling TDA immigration to the United States unreliable.” Another section has been largely revised by the intelligence community reports indicating a link between TDA and some Venezuelan officials as “limited”.
Foreign Minister Marco Rubio, who previously held the position of Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, He said On “confronting the nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday, it was believed that the intelligence community was “a mistake” in his evaluation that the Venezuelan government did not control TDA and that he agreed to “100 % with the conclusion of the FBI.”
Although it is not uncommon for analysts ’opinions to be challenged and tested by the leadership chain officials, the amendments usually seek to make the assessments more reflection of the current data and evidence, and it has been done regardless of government policy.
Officials said that policy makers are not obligated by what intelligence assessments can find, but the plural and analysis occurs in order to provide officials perfectly.
It is not quite clear from the email exchange obtained by CBS News and the final version of the memo with the number of changes made in Kent’s request.
In a later set of email exchange on April 4, Kent made suggestions to replace the language in the memo on TDA deportation trends, on the pretext that the policies under the Biden administration were a major influential factor.
“Let’s go with something like this,” Kent wrote, adding as a proposal editing, “IC also realizes that between January 2021 and January 2025, it made immigration policies in the United States and the border security stance migration from Venezuela to the United States. [sic] Politics was its own withdrawal factor. “
Kent later agreed to another proposed review that read, “Increasing the flow of irregular immigration from Venezuelan citizens who-with regard to some members of TDA-can be attributed to a wide perception of the US immigration policies and non-examination on the border between 2021 and 2025.”
“This looks great,” Kent replied.
However, the language that appears in the final evaluation varies, indicating the existence of additional deliberations before completing it: “IC also admits that the system appreciates immigration as a safety valve, allowing Venezuelan generously. [sic] It has decreased since January due to the perceptions of migrants for the enforcement of the new United States. “
New York Times and Reuters I mentioned for the first time the presence and some of the content of the Kent emails.
Gabbard shot the Nick Acting Chair, Michael Collins, and his deputy, Maria Langan Ricov, both of which were among the email recipients discussing the memo.
“They were rejected by Biden Micokat because they established intelligence,” Kent’s deputy, Alexa Henning, later, later. He said On x.
Kent was a close ally of Japdard, a former CIA officer and hope in the Republican Congress, was a close ally of Gabbard, who personally supported his former politician. President Trump Kent nominated the presidency of the National Center for Combating Terrorism, a prominent office within ODNI and a role that requires the assertion of the Senate in February.
On Wednesday, Democratic leaders in the intelligence committees in the House of Representatives and the Senate sparked a warning about an attempt to be the phenomenon to align intelligence with the current government policy and said that he considered his nomination to the NCTC director should stop.
“This was a flagrant attempt to politicize national security to satisfy the president who has repeatedly showed the facts, and intelligence specialists have divided the defense of this country,” Mark Warner of Virginia said in a statement.
“The pursuit of strong analysts to suit the president’s agenda, and their punishment when they refuse to bend, is a path to the national security disaster – however, this is the way this administration has chosen,” said Jim Hems of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, Jim Hems, of Connecticut.
“The Senate should not confirm Mr. Kent as the director of the National Center for Combating Terrorism without a complete understanding of his actions,” Heims said.
