President Donald Trump declined to say on Monday if he knew whether Joe Kent, who stepped down last week as director of the National Counterterrorism Center in protest of the war in Iran, was leaking classified information amid reports he is under investigation by the FBI for doing so.

Trump made the comments while speaking to reporters from Palm Beach International Airport before boarding Air Force One, after being asked if he knew whether Kent was leaking classified materials. The president repeatedly derided Kent, a former Green Beret, for remarrying “quickly” after his first wife was killed in 2019 while serving in Syria and for his failed congressional campaigns.

“Now, I hear they’re looking at him for leaking. That’s possible,” Trump said, referencing Kent potentially being under FBI investigation. “But just so you understand, just to put it to rest, he lost twice badly. He also lost his wife. He’s remarried since. He lost his wife. I felt badly for him, so I told my people, ‘Reach out to him, give him a job at the White House.’ This is the thanks I get.”

“I take this guy, Joe Kent, who lost twice for Congress, pretty badly and tough, and he was devastated, and I know that he lost his wife,” he continued. “So instead of letting him live out his life, I brilliantly had my people call him and offer him a job in security, essentially, in the White House. And what does he do? He goes out and he says that Iran is not a threat, to get publicity.”

Trump explained that he is “not a fan” of Kent, criticizing him for what the president described as an ideological pivot on Iran policy. “He was all for everything. All of a sudden, he wasn’t,” Trump said. He also said he did not engage much with Kent and did not follow him on social media. 

“I didn’t deal with him for the most part. I saw him a couple of times, but I never dealt with him at all. I had no idea his ideology was left or right, whatever it is,” Trump said. “I can say this: He said very strongly that Iran is not a threat. Iran has been a threat for 47 years and there’s not a country in the world that doesn’t agree with me on that.”

Media reports began circulating last Wednesday that the FBI began investigating Kent weeks ago, prior to his departure from the Trump administration, for allegedly leaking classified information related to Israel and Iran. Following his resignation, administration officials quickly began describing Kent as “a known leaker” who had been kept out of the president’s orbit and excluded from briefings.