Amaryllis Fox Kennedy reveals her departure from the Trump administration wasn’t just personal. The former intelligence official now claims concerns over intelligence spending played a major role. While Amaryllis Fox originally pointed to family finances, she now says deeper concerns inside the intelligence system influenced her decision.
Amaryllis Fox Kennedy reveals why she left Donald Trump’s team
Weeks after stepping away from the Trump administration, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy is offering a different explanation for her resignation. In a sit-down with The Wall Street Journal, the former CIA officer said she became increasingly troubled by how money and resources were handled within the U.S. intelligence community.
“I couldn’t keep signing the checks. I would have become complicit,” Kennedy told the newspaper while discussing what she described as inadequate oversight of intelligence spending.
Before stepping away from government service, Kennedy built an impressive resumé with several high-profile roles. She worked as deputy director of national intelligence, served on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, and helped oversee funding for the CIA along with 17 other intelligence agencies through the Office of Management and Budget.
Although she praised some intelligence operations as “brilliant” and worthy of taxpayer support, she argued that other activities were deeply problematic. According to the Journal, Kennedy claimed certain intelligence actors are using “covert resources” to influence political outcomes inside the United States, though she declined to provide specifics, citing national security concerns.
Kennedy said her breaking point came when she believed some agencies were resisting oversight from elected officials. She also pushed back against a Washington Post report suggesting disagreements over President Donald Trump’s Iran policy contributed to her departure. “My concern isn’t about the president’s foreign policy,” Kennedy said. “It’s about the political weaponization of our security services here in the United States.”
Her claims have already drawn a response. A CIA spokesperson told the Journal that Kennedy’s allegations were “totally false” and said congressional oversight committees are kept informed about agency resources and spending.
