Title: Megyn Kelly
Show: The Megyn Kelly Show
Date: 2026-04-03
URL: https://youtu.be/IqwXauqwSwQ
Duration: 9:00

---

[00:00] One of the dynamics of this war has been the president going out there saying, "We are talking to somebody. I can't tell you who it is cuz I'm worried he'll get killed." And then of course left unsaid is killed by who? Obviously, it's the Israelis. So, what was your experience with them? It was universally negative. Uh on in my very first briefing, I had only been on the job as an Iraq analyst for 6 weeks. My boss said to me, "I want you to participate in a group briefing. You're going to brief the Israelis. They have a

[00:32] Shin Bet representative and a Mossad representative." And he said, "We don't We don't speak to the Israelis in the building. They're not permitted in the building because every time they would come to CIA headquarters, they would bring gifts and the gifts were always laden with listening devices and batteries and you know, we we would x-ray everything and and we would tell them stop trying to bug our conference rooms." And they would say, "Oh Okay. Okay. You caught us. Okay." So, finally we said, "They just can't come in anymore." So, we we have a safe

[01:04] house where we meet with the Israelis. So, it was like eight of us. The senior Iraq analyst, the military analyst, the political analyst, the econ analyst, the oil analyst, everybody's doing their thing. And because I was the most junior, I went last. And um I said because I was an overt employee, "My name is John Kiriakou and I'm going to brief you today on Saddam Hussein's state of mind." And the Mossad representative looked over his glasses at me and he said, uh "Spell your name?"

[01:34] So, I spelled it and he says to me in front of everybody, he says, "You are Jewish?" And I said, "I am not recruitable. Don't even think about trying to recruit me. Shame on you." So, I went back to the office. My boss said, "How did it go?" I said, "I'm so angry right now I could explode." I said, "He practically pitched me right there in the meeting and asked if I was Jewish." And he laughed and he said, "They've done that to every single one of us."

[02:05] On my Trying to get you to turn against your country for them. >> them. On my very first day at the CIA, where you know, you you put your hand up in the air and you swear to uphold and protect the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. Uh we had a briefing by the CIA's director of security. And he told us that there are two intelligence representatives at the Israeli embassy. One from Mossad, one from Shin Bet. He said, "But the FBI has been able to identify 187 other undeclared Israeli intelligence

[02:36] officers spread out all across America working to steal secrets from American defense contractors." But politically the relationship is so close that you don't want to rock the boat and uh you know, start arresting people spying for Israel. Look at Jonathan Pollard. He does every day of a 30-year sentence and then is welcomed like some kind of a conquering hero at the American embassy in Jerusalem Jerusalem. It made me sick to my stomach.

[03:07] Well, when you said that comment about how everybody in Congress is afraid of the CIA, the same is true when it comes to Israel. I don't know if afraid is the word, but but controlled by I mean, one of the dynamics of this the wake of the Iran war, John, has been the not just like the loudest, but kind of the only front-facing critics have been from the more isolationist right. Where are the Democrats? Oh, where are they? >> That's That's the >> That's the question right there. Where in the world are the Democrats? They are

[03:40] utterly silent. In fact, I'll tell you, I was especially furious with Cory Booker, the Democratic senator from New Jersey. Not the last time Netanyahu came to Washington, but the time before Cory Booker literally ran through the halls of Congress to get to a photo op so he could stand behind Benjamin Netanyahu with his big stupid grin on his face. Like even now after Gaza, after the start of Iran, now you're running like O.J. Simpson

[04:10] through an airport in in the old I'm dating myself, but in the old whatever it was commercial. Yeah, Hertz commercial. You want to be in a picture with Benjamin Netanyahu. Uh some of them are afraid of being primaried. And and God knows that that AIPAC, if you are not 100% pro-Israel in your voting record, they will primary you and they will spend millions of dollars to defeat you. That scares most members of Congress. And so they're just not willing to challenge anybody. I'll tell you another thing. I used to be the

[04:41] chief investigator on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. I did that from '09 to '11. And um a couple of days after I started the job, uh these two guys came in, clearly obviously from AIPAC, and they said, "Hey, welcome to Capitol Hill." I said, "Thanks, I've worked on Capitol Hill before." Um we want to invite you for an all expenses paid trip to the Holy Land. They didn't say Israel. Totally. >> I said, "Thanks, guys. I can pay for my

[05:13] own vacations. I'm not interested. It's all expenses paid and we're going to take you to all the Christian holy sites." I go, "Guys, I'm not taking AIPAC's money. I'm not interested." But I don't think a single day went by where I didn't see those two. They were they practically had offices up there. And then individual House members say that there are AIPAC reps that will go to their office every day and just sit on the couch.

[05:43] And if constituents come in to meet with staff or to meet with the member of Congress. These guys will get up like it's their office and say, "Remember Israel. Israel Israel Israel. Remember." Like, what is that? That's That's not the American way. >> I I think that the manipulation is so ubiquitous, you almost just don't even know it's happening because everyone's singing from the same hymnal. And so it's like, "Yeah, this is what we all think." I remember at Fox News, it was like a knee-jerk thing. You had to say

[06:13] like, "In Israel, we have a very special relationship. You know, they're our most important ally in the Middle East." And every once in a while I would remember to ask, "Why?" >> Why? Why again? Like You know. to have somebody explain that to me. >> Yes. And it always kind of petered out after that. Like, "Why again?" It was always about demonizing the Arab states. You know, we're supposed to hate them because they're Muslim. We're supposed to love Israel because they're supposedly with us in the Judeo-Christian uh you know, yeah, narrative. I I It's There's been such a manipulation paid for a paid for

[06:45] manipulation that I think many of us just starting to see, John. >> Benjamin Netanyahu said something that was very um very much overlooked and I think very disturbing. Last week he was giving He He had given a speech and an Israeli reporter asked him a question about the American-Israeli war against Iran. And he corrected her and he said, "It's the American war against Iran. We are America's ally." And I thought, "Oh, buddy, that's not what you were saying 2 weeks ago." Now Now we stand alone doing your dirty

[07:18] work. But that's what it's come down to. That's clearly where it is and he's already saying there are many reports out from Israeli TV saying, "If we do go boots on the ground, it won't be with them." >> They're They're boots on the ground in Lebanon. They've got another issue they've taken on where a million Lebanese have been displaced because really Israel wants to be the hegemon of the region and saw an opportunity here. And so we'll be on our own. It'll be American blood and treasure. That spills on cargo island. Not exactly our

[07:49] >> Right? Our super tight allies. >> Yes. Thanks for watching this clip. If you're new here, subscribe. We got a whole lot more goodness where that came from. Would love to hear your feedback. You can email me, too. megan, m e g y n at megankelly.com, or just leave a comment below. But, join the community by becoming a subscriber. We really, really value your input and your support. We may not always agree, but we are always going to talk about it and respect. No BS, no agenda, no fear. Think about

[08:19] this. In 2006, $20,000 equaled roughly 33 oz of gold at spot price. At today's prices, those 33 oz would be worth about $165,000. That's why many smart Americans diversify a portion of their savings into precious metals. And that's why you should consider buying gold from Birch Gold Group. For thousands of years, gold has been a store of wealth. And today, it's a crucial part of any balanced strategy. Even better, Birch Gold can help you convert an existing IRA or 401k

[08:49] into a tax-sheltered retirement account in gold. Just text MK to the number 989898 to receive your free info kit on gold. There's no obligation, just useful information. With an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and tens of thousands of happy customers, let Birch Gold help you diversify with gold. Now, that's peace of mind. Again, text MK to 989898 today.
