The Ex-CIA Agent Going Viral For A Trump Pardon

John Kiriakou has tried everything

to get a presidential pardon.

Now, he's an accidental TikTok celebrity.

Kiriakou, a 61-year-old ex-CIA officer

who went to prison in 2013

for disclosing classified information

related to the agency's Middle East torture program,

didn't know he was going viral

until his 16-year-old niece told him.

He didn't, and still doesn't, have a TikTok account,

but clips from a podcast Kiriakou filmed in January

were going viral without his intervention.

Kiriakou is using his new platform

to get an official presidential pardon,

continuing a campaign he's been working on

for nearly two decades.

From 1990 to 2004, Kiriakou served as a CIA analyst

and counter-terrorism officer leading a 2002 operation

to capture Abu Zubaydah,

who ran a training camp for Al-Qaeda fighters.

During his detention,

the CIA waterboarded Abu Zubaydah.

Kiriakou later discussed the agency's torture tactics

in a 2007 interview with ABC News

where he went on to serve as a terrorism consultant.

Five years later, the Justice Department

charged Kiriakou who then pleaded guilty

to disclosing the name of a covert operative

who participated in CIA interrogations to journalists.

Though Kiriakou finished his prison sentence in 2015,

he wants a presidential pardon to clear his name

and get back decades of pension contributions,

which totals $700,000.

So he's been appearing on some of the very same podcasts

Trump did throughout the 2024 election.

Clips of Kiriakou chatting with Tucker Carlson

and Joe Rogan, among others, won't stop making the rounds.

And the unintended consequence

is that the internet is loving it.

It's the stories Kiriakou tells

about gathering intelligence in countries like Pakistan,

or detailing the CIA's MKUltra Program

that have drawn millions of views.

In brain rot style edits

on platforms like TikTok and Instagram reels.

The creative artist agency signed Kiriakou as a result,

and he's made more than 700 videos

for fans on Cameo for around $150 a piece.

Kiriakou says he was told by a senior government official

that the president is aware of his pardon application.

The White House declined to comment when Wired reached out.

A spokesperson said, The White House does not comment

on potential clemency petitions.

The president is the final decider

on all pardons or commutations.

Read the full story at wired.com.