# Chuck Grassley

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Chuck Grassley," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/chuck-grassley/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The senior senator from Iowa, and in John Kiriakou's assessment the one member of Congress who has taken whistleblower protection seriously as a legislative project — a count he has variously put at one finger, at two names, and at four out of 535. Grassley wrote the whistleblower protection statutes, speaks every year at the National Whistleblower Day luncheon, and is the name Kiriakou gives prospective whistleblowers as the single friendly ear on Capitol Hill. Kiriakou's personal verdict is colder — Grassley, he has said, never did anything for him.*

- **Office:** Senior United States senator from Iowa
- **Authored:** The [Whistleblower Protection Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/whistleblower-protection-act) and the National Security Whistleblower Protection Act
- **Annual appearance:** The National Whistleblower Day luncheon, every year
- **Kiriakou's count:** One finger (2019); two names with [Rand Paul](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/rand-paul-eric-holder) (2020); four out of 535 (2025)
- **Personal verdict:** *"Chuck Grassley was not a help"*
- **Not a member of:** The Senate Intelligence Committee

**Chuck Grassley** is the senior United States senator from Iowa and, in [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s account, the single member of Congress who has taken whistleblower protection seriously as a legislative project — an assessment Kiriakou pairs, in the same breath, with the observation that Grassley did nothing whatever for him.

## The count

*"You can count the number of pro-whistleblower members of Congress on one finger, and that is Chuck Grassley, the senior senator from Iowa."*[1] Grassley, he says, wrote the [Whistleblower Protection Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/whistleblower-protection-act) and the National Security Whistleblower Protection Act, and speaks every year at the National Whistleblower Center's annual luncheon. *"He's the only guy that's serious about protecting whistleblowers — and you can't keep people safe with the support of one member of Congress."*[1][2]

Pressed that Grassley is not literally alone, Kiriakou conceded there are one or two junior House members who turn up at such events, but held the substantive point: *"in terms of legislative authority, only Grassley can push some of these things through the system and get them signed into law. That's why we have these whistleblower protection laws."*[3]

The count grows slightly over the years without ever becoming large. In 2020 it is two: Grassley and [Rand Paul](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/rand-paul-eric-holder), the Republican senator from Kentucky. Kiriakou had met with both, and says they were *"entirely supportive of whistleblowers and have put their own reputations on the line"* for people like himself, [Brad Birkenfeld](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/brad-birkenfeld), [Tom Drake](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/thomas-drake) and [Bill Binney](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bill-binney) — which they did not have to do, and which *"the other 536 members of Congress"* never did.[4][5]

By 2025 the list has reached four, and Kiriakou states it as arithmetic. Grassley — *"very old, he's 94, 95 years old, but he's the one guy that you can expect support from"* — is joined by Jim Jordan, the congressman from Ohio and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, whom Kiriakou calls *"more politicized on this issue, but he is a friend of whistleblowers"*; by Rand Paul; and by one Democrat, [Ron Wyden](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ron-wyden) of Oregon. *"There are 435 members of the House of Representatives. There are 100 senators. We're talking about 535 people, and we can name four who support whistleblowers."* It remains an uphill struggle, he adds, but a better one than ten years earlier.[6][7]

## The one friendly ear

Grassley's practical function in Kiriakou's account is as a name to give someone who is about to become a whistleblower. Counselling a prospective source who feared he was going crazy, Kiriakou told him to rely on his attorneys and cultivate friendly voices in the media, and then: *"if you have an opening to Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, talk to Grassley. He's a friendly ear. Otherwise, don't trust anybody"* — because the FBI most likely already knows, and will try to get him to implicate himself. He extended the warning to himself: the two had never met, *"even talking to me is a risk."*[8][9]

## "Not a help"

Set against the public praise is a blunter private ledger. Grassley, Kiriakou said in 2020, *"is probably the best friend that whistleblowers have on Capitol Hill, and that's not saying a lot. He's certainly not my friend. Chuck Grassley's not done anything for me."* The members who actually helped him were his own congressman at the time, [Jim Moran](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/jim-moran), Lloyd Doggett of Texas, and Senator [John McCain](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-mccain): *"they were all great and I appreciated the help very much. Chuck Grassley was not a help."*[10] A later telling is warmer and lists Grassley among the people who came over to his side, alongside McCain and Ron Paul, once the three espionage charges made fighting the only option.[11]

The annual luncheon draws the same double-edged treatment. Grassley speaks at National Whistleblower Day every year, and *"oftentimes another congressman will stop by and wave and bask in his applause."* In 2020 Kiriakou boycotted the event and wrote a piece in Consortium News saying so, because the speaker was the Justice Department's inspector general Michael Horowitz — in his view a fraud, and a man he blamed for eight years of nightmare visited on an FBI whistleblower friend, Darren Jones. He noted too that [Chelsea Manning](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/chelsea-manning) was convicted on National Whistleblower Day.[10][12][13]

## Forced into the Ukraine case

When Grassley issued a statement backing [the Ukraine call whistleblower](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ukraine-call-whistleblower) in 2019, Kiriakou read it as obligation rather than judgement: *"he had to — it's his law. The whistleblower invoked his law to protect himself, so Grassley was sort of pushed into it."*[14] He also noted the limit on what Grassley could know. The senator does not sit on the Intelligence Committee, so he had none of the answers to the questions Kiriakou was asking about whether the complaint was legitimate, and *"just has to sort of go with it until proven otherwise."*[14]

## A room that has changed

By late 2025 Kiriakou was describing a whistleblower event at which Grassley, Chairman Comer, Chairman Jordan and Treasury Secretary Bessent were all present, along with Brad Birkenfeld and a number of whistleblowers who had gone public knowing it would cost them their careers. The contrast is the point: *"when I blew the whistle on the torture program, I stood alone."* That political figures now say it is unacceptable to treat whistleblowers this way, he said, he loved — while noting that a shield law is still needed, and that every one of the people he had just named was a Republican. There were no Democrats there at all.[15][16][17]

## See also

- [Whistleblower Protection Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/whistleblower-protection-act)
- [The Ukraine call whistleblower](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ukraine-call-whistleblower)
- [Rand Paul and Eric Holder](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/rand-paul-eric-holder)
- [Ron Wyden](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ron-wyden)
- [Jim Moran](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/jim-moran)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)
- [Congressional intelligence oversight](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/congressional-intelligence-oversight)

## Sources

1. Discusses Ukraine Phone Call (2019-10-03), at 21:35. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCZWqXneXfY&t=1295s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-10-03-rob-kall-bottom-up-show-discusses-ukraine-phone-call/
2. John Kiriakou — Whistleblower Protections, Torture, and Ju (2020-11-23), at 51:23. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Uq2aYrR5w&t=3083s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-11-23-revolutionary-change/
3. Discusses Ukraine Phone Call (2019-10-03), at 22:06. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCZWqXneXfY&t=1326s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-10-03-rob-kall-bottom-up-show-discusses-ukraine-phone-call/
4. Freedom Hub Working Group (2020-04-20), at 57:51. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8QQGwrN5Ag&t=3471s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-04-20-freedom-hub-working-group-freedom-hub-working-group/
5. Freedom Hub Working Group (2020-04-20), at 58:21. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8QQGwrN5Ag&t=3501s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-04-20-freedom-hub-working-group-freedom-hub-working-group/
6. “CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou: Torture, Truth & Traum (2025-07-17), at 37:48. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Oi61wpeGnA&t=2268s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-07-17-barracks-media-inc/
7. “CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou: Torture, Truth & Traum (2025-07-17), at 38:18. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Oi61wpeGnA&t=2298s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-07-17-barracks-media-inc/
8. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou EXPOSES Truths About 911, JFK, and Middle East! (2025-09-11), at 24:13. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fOKjdGGHQ4&t=1453s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-11-wisenuts-cia-whistleblower-john-kiriakou-exposes-truths-about-911-jfk/
9. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou EXPOSES Truths About 911, JFK, and Middle East! (2025-09-11), at 24:44. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fOKjdGGHQ4&t=1484s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-11-wisenuts-cia-whistleblower-john-kiriakou-exposes-truths-about-911-jfk/
10. How Politicians Disqualify Whistleblowers (2020-07-31), at 02:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zABTCtNuOFc&t=125s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-07-31-kevin-gosztola-how-politicians-disqualify-whistleblowers/
11. More Than Rich: S3E33 - John Kiriakou Exposes The Cost o (2024-10-06), at 1:00:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NCqVjUN4zw&t=3631s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-10-06-joecat/
12. How Politicians Disqualify Whistleblowers (2020-07-31), at 02:37. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zABTCtNuOFc&t=157s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-07-31-kevin-gosztola-how-politicians-disqualify-whistleblowers/
13. How Politicians Disqualify Whistleblowers (2020-07-31), at 03:08. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zABTCtNuOFc&t=188s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2020-07-31-kevin-gosztola-how-politicians-disqualify-whistleblowers/
14. Discusses Ukraine Phone Call (2019-10-03), at 22:38. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCZWqXneXfY&t=1358s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-10-03-rob-kall-bottom-up-show-discusses-ukraine-phone-call/
15. DeProgram (Ted Rall) (2025-11-21), at 03:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uyLgnRHjk4&t=185s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-21-deprogram-ted-rall-deprogram-ted-rall/
16. DeProgram (Ted Rall) (2025-11-21), at 03:36. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uyLgnRHjk4&t=216s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-21-deprogram-ted-rall-deprogram-ted-rall/
17. DeProgram (Ted Rall) (2025-11-21), at 04:07. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uyLgnRHjk4&t=247s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-21-deprogram-ted-rall-deprogram-ted-rall/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/chuck-grassley/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt