By Michael Williams, CNN

(CNN) — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Joe Kent to a top counterterrorism role, overcoming opposition from Democrats who described the retired Army Green Beret as a conspiracy theorist who has associated with White nationalists and other far-right extremists.

Kent will lead the National Counterterrorism Center, which is tasked with analyzing terrorism-related intelligence and maintains a database of known and suspected terrorists.

He most recently served as a top aide to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and previously mounted two unsuccessful bids for Congress in Washington state.

The GOP-controlled Senate voted 52-44 in favor of Kent’s confirmation. The only Republican who voted against it was Sen. Thom Tillis, who announced last month he would not seek reelection a day after voting against President Donald Trump’s domestic-policy bill.

Kent will serve in a crucial role at an organization tasked with monitoring intelligence associated with long-existing terrorist organizations in the Middle East as well as drug cartels and international gangs that Trump recently designated as terrorist organizations.

Kent’s supporters have cited his long experience in counterterrorism and the military — he served 11 combat tours over a 20-year career in the Army before retiring to become a CIA officer — and his personal experience as a Gold Star spouse. His first wife, Shannon, was killed in a 2019 suicide bombing in Syria while serving as a Navy cryptologist.

“Mr. Kent understands the grave threat that terrorism poses to the security and safety of Americans,” said Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas during a floor speech on Wednesday.

But Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, described him as a “conspiracy theorist who espouses white supremacist views and is patently unqualified for this important role in just about every way imaginable.”

“You’re supposed to pick people with qualifications,” Murray said. “But just about everything we know about Joe Kent is disqualifying for this role, and alarming.”

CNN has reached out to Kent for comment. In a statement, Gabbard said Kent has “consistently put country before self, enduring great personal sacrifice in that service.”

“His experience serving as the tip of the spear in some of the world’s most dangerous battlefields has given him a deep, practical understanding of the enduring and evolving threat of Islamist terrorism, as well as the threats we face from the cartels’ human trafficking and drug trafficking operations,” Gabbard added.

CNN previously reported that during his congressional campaigns, Kent repeatedly had to disavow past interactions with far-right figures including Nazi sympathizer Greyson Arnold and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. Kent said at the time he was unfamiliar with Fuentes and later said he did not want Fuentes’ endorsement.

When asked about Fuentes during a television interview with a local NBC affiliate in 2022, Kent said, “I’m not a White nationalist at all. I’m an America first candidate.”

In his role as Gabbard’s aide, Kent came under criticism for asking an intelligence analyst to “update” an assessment that undercut Trump’s rationale for invoking the Alien Enemies Act to speed up deportations — which former intelligence officials and Democratic members of Congress described as an instance of a political leader inappropriately politicizing intelligence conclusions, CNN previously reported.

During a confirmation hearing in April, Kent defended his participation in a Signal chat that inadvertently included a journalist in which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth detailed plans about a military operation in Yemen.

He also defended his promotion of the conspiracy theory that the FBI and aspects of the intelligence community were involved in planning or directing the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Kent has spoken in favor of insurrectionists charged with storming the US Capitol, describing some January 6 defendants as “political prisoners” who were not being afforded due process, though he said he opposed those who attacked police officers.

“Our enemies are those that will deny people of their constitutional rights, and then take a narrative that labels all of us as terrorists or insurrectionists for just questioning things,” Kent said during a 2021 “Justice for J6” rally. “It’s our God-given right and duty as Americans to actually question things, to question the narrative.”

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