Former CIA analyst John Kiriakou, the only official jailed for exposing the agency’s torture program, is calling out Obama and Biden as leaders of a “cabal of criminals” who protected torturers while prosecuting whistleblowers who dared tell the truth.
Whistleblower Punished While Torturers Walked Free
John Kiriakou joined the CIA in the 1990s and rose to counter-terrorism officer, working operations against terrorist groups following 9/11. In 2007, he became the first U.S. official to publicly confirm the CIA’s use of waterboarding on detainees during a televised ABC interview. The Obama administration prosecuted him aggressively under the Espionage Act, and in 2012 he was convicted and sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. Kiriakou served nearly two years behind bars, losing his job, pension, and enduring profound family hardship. Remarkably, he remains the only official jailed in connection with the torture program—not for committing torture, but for exposing it.
The Obama administration’s treatment of Kiriakou exemplifies the Deep State’s selective enforcement of justice. While Kiriakou languished in prison for telling Americans the truth about government-sanctioned torture, the architects and operators of that torture program faced no consequences whatsoever. John Brennan, who was tied to the torture program and later became CIA Director under Obama, continued to wield enormous power in the intelligence community. This two-tiered justice system punishes patriots who uphold transparency while rewarding those who abuse their authority—a pattern that continues to undermine trust in federal institutions.
Obama and Biden’s Shameful Pardon Manipulation
Between 2016 and 2020, Kiriakou made multiple appeals to President Obama for a pardon, citing his service to the country and his commitment to exposing illegal government activities. Despite personal pleas, Obama denied every request. Instead, Obama chose to pardon Chelsea Manning, the Army intelligence analyst convicted of leaking classified military documents. Kiriakou describes Obama’s decision as a calculated political move that prioritized favorable optics over justice for whistleblowers who exposed constitutional violations. The Biden administration eventually granted Kiriakou a pardon, but he questions the sincerity and decision-making process behind it, suggesting Biden’s questionable mental capacity played a role.
Kiriakou’s experience reveals how the pardon power has been weaponized as a political tool rather than a mechanism for justice. Obama used pardons to advance his legacy while leaving genuine whistleblowers to suffer the consequences of exposing wrongdoing. Biden’s belated pardon did nothing to restore Kiriakou’s lost pension or compensate for the years stolen from his family. This manipulation of the pardon process exemplifies the corruption Kiriakou describes when he states, “We’re led by a cabal of criminals.” For conservatives who value accountability and constitutional principles, this abuse of executive power represents everything wrong with the administrative state.
Criminal Referrals Target Obama-Era Intelligence Officials
Recent developments have vindicated concerns about Deep State corruption during the Obama-Biden years. The DOJ confirmed a criminal referral related to allegations that Obama-era intelligence officials fabricated evidence regarding Russia-Trump collusion during the 2016 election. A declassified report exceeding 100 pages, containing emails and internal memos, allegedly implicates Obama, Brennan, Comey, Susan Rice, and James Clapper in manufacturing false intelligence. Former FBI official Jody Weis characterized the allegations as potentially “the biggest political scandal in my lifetime,” calling for prosecutions if the evidence proves accurate. These revelations align with Kiriakou’s broader critique of systemic corruption within the intelligence community.
The emerging evidence of coordinated intelligence fabrication represents a direct assault on American democracy and constitutional governance. If sitting administration officials deliberately manufactured false intelligence to undermine a presidential campaign and later a sitting president, it constitutes an unprecedented abuse of power. For conservatives who endured years of Russia collusion narratives, breathless media coverage, and baseless accusations, these revelations confirm what many suspected all along: the Deep State weaponized intelligence agencies against political opponents. This corruption extends far beyond partisan politics—it strikes at the heart of whether unelected bureaucrats can operate above the law, manipulating elections and destroying lives without accountability.
Chilling Effect on National Security Whistleblowers
Kiriakou’s prosecution under the Espionage Act established a dangerous precedent that continues to chill dissent within national security agencies. The Obama administration’s aggressive use of the Espionage Act against leakers intensified practices that the Trump administration initially continued under Attorney General Jeff Sessions before course corrections occurred. Civil liberties advocates, including the ACLU’s Ben Wizner, warned that such crackdowns threaten press freedom and democratic accountability by deterring insiders from exposing government wrongdoing. Kiriakou maintains he would repeat his whistleblowing despite the personal costs, arguing that Americans deserve to know when their government violates the Constitution and international law.
The broader implications for whistleblower protections and government transparency remain deeply troubling as Trump’s second term addresses these abuses. Intelligence agencies have demonstrated they will ruthlessly punish those who expose illegal activities while protecting the perpetrators of those crimes. This inverted justice system undermines the constitutional checks and balances that protect American liberties from government overreach. Patriots who believe in limited government and accountability should recognize that without robust whistleblower protections, the administrative state operates in darkness, free to violate citizens’ rights without consequence. Kiriakou’s case stands as a warning: speak truth to power, and the Deep State will destroy you while calling it justice.
