Kiriakou on influencing Trump
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Speaking in April 2019 to supporters who assumed Donald Trump would never move on Julian Assange, John Kiriakou argued the opposite, on the basis of what he said he had learned trying to reach the president himself: "I actually have some access to the White House right now ... it's quite expensive access, but it's access nonetheless."

The rule of three

"The president really is malleable. The thing is, and this is just his personality, he needs to hear something from three different people." One advocate is ignored; two are ignored; "but if he hears it from the two of us and somebody that he plays golf with at Mar-a-Lago on the weekends, he might actually do something."

Kiriakou says he confirmed the rule by accident. An aide to Trump mentioned him to the president about six months earlier and "he paid no attention whatsoever." Then Rand Paul mentioned him roughly two weeks later, and Trump's response was to place the earlier one: "you know, Joe Smith mentioned this guy to me a couple of weeks ago, so now that's two people." "So I know that this is true, what I've been told: that he needs to hear something from three different people, three different people he respects, and he's willing to change his mind."

Why the neoconservative appointments were grounds for optimism

Asked to explain to Assange supporters why the appointments of Gina Haspel, Elliott Abrams and John Bolton should temper their hopes, Kiriakou inverted the question. Those appointments showed Trump had been "clearly influenced by other neocons", "and so if he can be influenced one way, I believe actually that he can be influenced in another way as well. It's just a question of getting to him." He cited Trump's campaign-trail "God bless WikiLeaks" as proof the position had already moved once.

Who to reach, and what gets in the way

The route he proposed ran through civil-libertarian Republicans rather than the movement's own constituency: "we need to get to the likes of Mike Lee, Republican senator from Utah, or Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, or Mark Meadows, who's the chairman of the House Tea Party caucus, Republicans who believe that this is a civil liberties issue and not a criminal one. They're the ones who can really influence the president much more effectively than we can." He added that he did not care why Republicans supported Assange, whether on civil-liberties grounds or because they saw him as an opponent of Hillary Clinton, "so long as the outcome is right."

The obstacle he named on the same side was demobilisation by conspiracy: a quadrant of Trump supporters "pacified" into believing "that they don't have to do anything, that Trump is in control and he'll save the day ... that's just simply not true, and that weakens us."

Sessions to Barr

Kiriakou said his own pessimism had lifted with the change of attorney general: "I was very pessimistic for a long time, and then Jeff Sessions left. So I think that we've got a better chance now, because William Barr is a functionary, he's a bureaucrat and a paper pusher. He's not an ideologue like Jeff Sessions was. So maybe perhaps the guy might be willing to be convinced. We have to at least give it a try."

See also

- Donald Trump
- Julian Assange
- Gina Haspel
- John Bolton
- John Kiriakou
