A former CIA insider who exposed the agency’s torture program now calls the Obama-Biden leadership a “cabal of criminals,” revealing how the deep state protects its own while crushing whistleblowers who dare tell the truth.

Whistleblower Punished While Torturers Walk Free

John Kiriakou spent fourteen years serving his country in the CIA’s counter-terrorism division before his conscience compelled him to act. In 2007, he became the first official to publicly confirm the CIA’s use of waterboarding on detainees in the post-9/11 enhanced interrogation program. That decision to expose government wrongdoing cost him everything. By 2012, the Obama Justice Department convicted him under the Espionage Act and sentenced him to thirty months in federal prison. He served nearly two years while the architects and practitioners of the actual torture program faced zero consequences.

The selective prosecution reveals a disturbing pattern that conservatives have long recognized: the deep state protects its own. While Kiriakou languished behind bars, Obama appointed John Brennan—a key figure in developing the very torture program Kiriakou exposed—as CIA Director. This wasn’t justice; it was retaliation against someone who dared challenge the intelligence community’s narrative. The message to future whistleblowers was unmistakable: expose government crimes and we’ll destroy you, but participate in those crimes and we’ll promote you.

Obama’s Pardon Hypocrisy Exposed

Kiriakou made direct appeals to President Obama for a pardon, believing his exposure of illegal torture warranted clemency. Obama refused, instead choosing to pardon Chelsea Manning, who leaked classified military documents. The stark contrast illustrates how the Obama administration valued loyalty to intelligence agencies over accountability. Kiriakou’s crime was embarrassing the CIA; Manning’s leaks endangered national security yet received mercy. This wasn’t about justice or rehabilitation—it was about protecting the permanent bureaucracy from scrutiny while punishing those who challenged its authority.

The Biden administration continued this pattern of selective clemency. Kiriakou alleges that Biden was too incapacitated to make pardon decisions himself, with deep state operatives controlling the process. While Trump issued pardons that critics called excessive, at least he didn’t systematically protect intelligence community malfeasance while destroying patriotic whistleblowers. Kiriakou eventually had his voting rights restored by Virginia’s governor, but his federal pension remains stripped and his security clearance revoked. Meanwhile, officials who authorized simulated drowning of prisoners retired with full benefits and lucrative consulting contracts.

New Revelations Deepen the Scandal

Recent developments vindicate Kiriakou’s characterization of criminal leadership. DNI Tulsi Gabbard declassified documents that triggered a DOJ criminal referral alleging Obama directed intelligence chiefs John Brennan, James Comey, Susan Rice, and James Clapper to fabricate intelligence regarding Russia during the 2016 election. Former FBI official Jody Weis called these allegations “the biggest political scandal in my lifetime” if proven true. The pattern becomes clear: the same Obama-era officials who weaponized the Espionage Act against whistleblowers may have fabricated foreign intelligence to interfere in American elections.

Kiriakou stands by his decision despite the personal cost, stating he would “do it all again.” His courage highlights what’s at stake when unelected bureaucrats operate without accountability. The Obama-Biden intelligence apparatus prosecuted more whistleblowers under the Espionage Act than all previous administrations combined, chilling legitimate disclosures of government wrongdoing. ACLU attorney Ben Wizner warned these leak crackdowns threaten both press freedom and democracy itself. As Trump’s second term progresses, conservatives demand accountability for those who turned intelligence agencies into political weapons while crushing Americans who exposed actual crimes.