John Kiriakou

“The MEK hires some of the most high powered lobbyists in Washington to get them off the terrorism list. And they engaged with both Democrats and Republicans. I mean, everybody from from Howard Dean to Rudy Giuliani. Howard Dean was lobbying for MEK? Oh, yeah. And Rudy Giuliani. That's pathetic. You should see the pictures of them together. It's sickening. At these big banquets in Washington to raise money for the the people who tried to kill the US ambassador? Mhmm. But they're the good guys now.”

“Their priorities become our priorities, and all of a sudden, they're our only friend. And you can't tell me that's accidental. That's right. They're literally our only friend, and they're not a they're not a friend. They have a much longer term view of these things than we do. They they began to try to implement this policy in the sixties, and it finally came to fruition. It's prime minister after prime minister after prime minister cultivates not just American political figures, but but wealthy American Jews and says, look, you know, we've got a lot of lobbying to do.”

“You're gonna have to tear the place down to the studs, and you're gonna have to enact real controls. I'll give you an example. This may sound silly, but I think it's important. When I first joined the CIA, I had literally no idea the political views of the people that I was that I was working with. No idea. I think that to reform the place, you have to tear it down and then rebuild. And you have to have real rules that are really followed that you just cannot be political.”

“But I want to apologize on the record because I was wrong. ... no, no. I owe you an apology. As I said, you've you've shown me wrong, and I I'm sorry that I uh perpetuated an untruth.”

“The Espionage Act was written in 1917 to combat German saboturs during the First World War. Between 1917 and 2009, three people were prosecuted for speaking to the press. Just under Obama, eight of us were prosecuted for speaking to the press. Eight of us.”

“One of the very first lessons that I learned at the CIA is that if you want to determine American military intentions, watch naval movements. You know, we can fly troops out all over the place. It doesn't make any difference. If you're going to send an an entire aircraft carrier strike group, you mean business.”

“John Brennan, I believe, um, really did attempt to carry out a coup, not with tanks in the streets. He tried to do it through rumor and innuendo. And he tried to deny Donald Trump the presidency. He tried to deny, you know, the choice of 51% of Americans.”

“What they're being accused of doing is giving money to the Ku Klux Clan, giving money to Nazi groups, you know, laundering money. There are very clear laws, very specific laws about money laundering. You can't do it. You can't do it. And so, why launder it in the first place?”

“It allows these continued secret here it is secret warrantless uh wire taps on people. But again, you know, on whom and what's the threshold? We don't know what the threshold is. Nobody will tell us. And so you get somebody like Carter Page who, you know, was doing what he thought he was supposed to be doing.”

“If you ask somebody a question in 2000, what qualities do you want in a president? Top five, they would say diplomacy, you know, being presidential, you know, great aator. ... You know what people are realizing from 16 to today? Negotiation skills. And the guy's a the guy's a phenomenal negotiate.”

“His son was u an F5 pilot or whatever it was, F-16 pilot. And I mentioned this to him like, 'Oh, I saw the craziest thing last year. I saw this flying saucer with my dad.' And he said, 'Oh, we see those things all the time.' He said, 'One time I saw one shoot up out of the ocean.' And I said, 'You kidding me?' He said, 'No.' We said, 'We fill out these forms. They're classified. We send them to the Pentagon.' He said, 'Every pilot has seen them.'”

“He can be helpful by giving me my pension back. I said, 'These Obama people confiscated my pension. 20 years of proud government service.' ... What would a pardon do to your life? It would give me my my pension back. That's it. And give me my gun rights back.”

“No, I I owe you an apology. As I said, you've you've shown me wrong, and I I'm sorry that I perpetuated an untruth. I think that the definition of Zionism has changed now. I think it's much more—well, depending on your point of political view—more reactionary or more radical than it was when it originated in the UK in the late 19th century.”

“One of the very first lessons that I learned at the CIA is that if you want to determine American military intentions, watch naval movements. You know, we can fly troops out all over the place. It doesn't make any difference. If you're going to send an entire aircraft carrier strike group, you mean business. If you're gonna send two of them, you're going to war.”

“Between 1917 and 2009, three people were prosecuted for speaking to the press. Just under Obama, eight of us were prosecuted for speaking to the press. I remember a friend of mine at the White House saying, 'Be careful of this guy. Obama has a Nixonian obsession with national security leaks.' And I said why? He said because John Brennan's whispering in his ear every single day, prosecute, prosecute, prosecute.”