# Jake Tapper

> **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: "Jake Tapper," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/jake-tapper/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*CNN anchor who drove to FCI Loretto to interview the imprisoned John Kiriakou — and who asked President Obama at a press conference why he had insisted on prosecuting a man who exposed a crime, a question Obama answered by walking away from the podium. Tapper's visit was the head of a media wave that began with a smuggled-out letter on the Huffington Post, and it became Kiriakou's protection inside; even a guard known as a psychopath left him alone rather than find CNN parked beside his car.*

- **Who:** CNN anchor
- **Loretto visit:** Drove to the prison to interview Kiriakou for CNN
- **The Obama question:** Asked why Kiriakou was prosecuted for exposing a crime — Obama walked away
- **Kiriakou's verdict:** "Jake was different" — they stayed in touch after prison

**Jake Tapper** is the CNN anchor who became, improbably, part of [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s prison survival strategy.

## How the press found him

The chain began with a letter. [Jesselyn Radack](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/jesselyn-radack) had told Kiriakou to write to her once he was inside and she would forward it to a mailing list of some six hundred people; what he wrote described two crimes committed against him by guards, naming staff malfeasance, which is not something prisoners do. Unknown to him, Radack was a friend of [Arianna Huffington](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/arianna-huffington), who ran it as a banner headline on the Huffington Post. It drew two million hits in the first week.[1][2][3][4] The precipitating incident was that within four days of arriving he had been solicited into what the law library told him was a class D felony — conspiracy to promote violence in a federal facility — an approach he read as an attempt to get him to kill a prisoner, or get one to kill him, apparently for sport.[5]

Tapper drove to [FCI Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fci-loretto) to interview him for CNN, at the head of a wave that ran to NPR several times, Playboy, The Economist, the Atlantic Monthly, Time, the back cover of The Nation, ABC News, all four broadcast networks, CNN, Fox and MSNBC — and a steady stream of Greek newspapers, Kiriakou being a dual citizen and, in Greece, a star for having stood up to the American government.[6][7][8][2][9][4][10] [Arianna Huffington](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/arianna-huffington) came too, with two young journalists.[11]

Saying yes to every request was a deliberate position rather than vanity. Kiriakou had been ordered by the judge to a minimum-security work camp — no fences, no bars, doors never locked — and the Justice Department, furious at the ruling, sent him instead to the regular prison across the street on the grounds that a trained CIA officer was a national security threat.[12] Having been put there, he used the access as a soapbox on prison conditions, medical facilities and violence encouraged by guards and the administration. It drove the warden crazy, and it became his second book.[13][14] Alongside it he answered more than seven thousand of the sixty to eighty letters a day that arrived, and wrote op-eds longhand on a legal pad for the Los Angeles Times, the Guardian and the Los Angeles Review of Books.[15][16]

## Armor

That access became protection. When guards threatened him, Kiriakou's standing reply was: *"Yeah? Well, let's see what Jake Tapper has to say about it. How about that — why don't we give him a call and see what he has to say?"* And they would back off.[17][18]

The clearest measure of it reached him secondhand. A guard with a reputation as a psychopath — a man who enjoyed hurting people — never once touched Kiriakou. Assigned to Central One unit, he mentioned it to an Italian prisoner, who said his friend John was in that unit. *"The CIA guy?"* the guard asked, and explained why he left him alone: *"that's all I need. I work an eight-hour day and then I go out to the parking lot and CNN is next to my car."*[19][20]

It did not stop the warden trying. Called in and told *"I'm going to put you in solitary and we're going to forget where you are and throw away the key,"* Kiriakou decided he had nothing to lose and answered that he had gone nose to nose with al-Qaeda, with Hezbollah and with the Iranians, and had lived in a great deal worse than Loretto's solitary.[21]

## "Jake was different"

Kiriakou generally files CNN under the go-along-to-get-along mainstream.[22] But Tapper, he says, was different: Tapper asked President [Obama](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/barack-obama) at a press conference why he had insisted on prosecuting Kiriakou when Kiriakou had exposed a crime — *"and Obama just walked away from the podium."* The two have stayed in touch since Kiriakou came home.[23]

## The prison interview, and the friendship

Asked in 2026 to name journalists he respects, Kiriakou reached first for independent reporters — Max Blumenthal, Aaron Maté, Kevin Gosztola, and [Jason Leopold](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/jason-leopold), whom he notes *"we might call mainstream. He's with Bloomberg"* — before conceding that his mind *"doesn't even go to the mainstream outlets."*[24][25]

Tapper is the exception, and Kiriakou discloses the reason: *"As mainstream as I'm going to get, and I'm biased cuz I like him and he's a good guy, is Jake Tapper."*[25] The acquaintance dates from his imprisonment — *"he came to the prison to interview me in 2013, and we've been friends ever since"* — and Kiriakou lets stand, without dissent, his co-host's qualification that Tapper *"doesn't have full freedom of movement"* at a network and would be different with a show of his own.[25][26]

## See also

- [FCI Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fci-loretto)
- [Barack Obama](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/barack-obama)
- [Letter from Loretto](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/letter-from-loretto)
- [Doing Time Like a Spy](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/doing-time-like-a-spy)
- [Arianna Huffington](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/arianna-huffington)

## Sources

1. Former CIA Agent John Kiriakou Turned Whistleblower Talk (2021-10-17), at 26:02. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiAb3oiaZ58&t=1562s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-10-17-la-progressive/
2. Former CIA Agent John Kiriakou Turned Whistleblower Talk (2021-10-17), at 26:33. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiAb3oiaZ58&t=1593s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-10-17-la-progressive/
3. "NOT SILENCED" - Part-1: The CIA and John Kiriakou - Stories Untold (2025-06-01), at 2:13:30. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8paaOJyEaU&t=8010s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-06-01-not-silenced-part-1/
4. "NOT SILENCED" - Part-1: The CIA and John Kiriakou - Stories Untold (2025-06-01), at 2:14:00. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8paaOJyEaU&t=8040s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-06-01-not-silenced-part-1/
5. Secrets, Lies, and the Price of Truth: The CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2025-04-23), at 19:50. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYK16WJ1WsU&t=1190s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-04-23-dr-phil-podcast-secrets-lies-price-of-truth-part2/
6. John Kiriakou — Ep 133 (probe dup vs 6kmi7Tkpf7Q) (2023-02-08), at 30:46. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LThb4bBpGUw&t=1846s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-02-08-fortress-on-a-hill-john-kiriakou-ep-133-probe-dup-vs-6kmi7tkpf7q/
7. LA Progressive interview with John Kiriakou (2021-10-13), at 26:33. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfezVxYzOGE&t=1593s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-10-13-sharon-kyle-la-progressive-interview-with-john-kiriakou/
8. Savage Joy and JOHN KIRIAKOU (2023-02-18), at 33:34. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWsbNCBI434&t=2014s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-02-18-savage-joy-marie-mann-savage-joy-and-john-kiriakou/
9. Fortress On A Hill (Henri) (2024-01-16), at 30:58. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kmi7Tkpf7Q&t=1858s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-01-16-fortress-on-a-hill-henri/
10. Secrets, Lies, and the Price of Truth: The CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2025-04-23), at 20:20. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYK16WJ1WsU&t=1220s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-04-23-dr-phil-podcast-secrets-lies-price-of-truth-part2/
11. Savage Joy and JOHN KIRIAKOU (2023-02-18), at 36:49. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWsbNCBI434&t=2209s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-02-18-savage-joy-marie-mann-savage-joy-and-john-kiriakou/
12. Fortress On A Hill (Henri) (2024-01-16), at 29:55. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kmi7Tkpf7Q&t=1795s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-01-16-fortress-on-a-hill-henri/
13. Fortress On A Hill (Henri) (2024-01-16), at 30:25. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kmi7Tkpf7Q&t=1825s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-01-16-fortress-on-a-hill-henri/
14. Secrets, Lies, and the Price of Truth: The CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou | Part 2 (2025-04-23), at 20:51. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYK16WJ1WsU&t=1251s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-04-23-dr-phil-podcast-secrets-lies-price-of-truth-part2/
15. HR News Channel (2022-09-13), at 26:15. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06-usYETsbo&t=1575s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-09-13-hr-news-channel-hr-news-channel/
16. HR News Channel (2022-09-13), at 26:46. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06-usYETsbo&t=1606s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-09-13-hr-news-channel-hr-news-channel/
17. Savage Joy and JOHN KIRIAKOU (2023-02-18), at 35:09. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWsbNCBI434&t=2109s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-02-18-savage-joy-marie-mann-savage-joy-and-john-kiriakou/
18. RDAP DAN (2018-06-26), at 02:16. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_oIObeqj6U&t=136s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2018-06-26-rdap-dan-rdap-dan/
19. SND#40 Gulf Mines & Incubator Babies w/John Kiriakou (2019-06-14), at 08:16. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM85ukUYXm8&t=496s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-06-14-slow-news-day/
20. SND#40 Gulf Mines & Incubator Babies w/John Kiriakou (2019-06-14), at 08:48. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM85ukUYXm8&t=528s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-06-14-slow-news-day/
21. "NOT SILENCED" - Part-1: The CIA and John Kiriakou - Stories Untold (2025-06-01), at 2:14:30. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8paaOJyEaU&t=8070s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-06-01-not-silenced-part-1/
22. Katie Halper (2022-04-11), at 32:34. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyCLngdLCYo&t=1954s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2022-04-11-katie-halper-katie-halper/
23. Savage Joy and JOHN KIRIAKOU (2023-02-18), at 37:20. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWsbNCBI434&t=2240s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2023-02-18-savage-joy-marie-mann-savage-joy-and-john-kiriakou/
24. A Super Dumb Mass Murder (2026-03-12), at 22:53. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guXefViRMCk&t=1373s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-12-deprogram-ted-rall-a-super-dumb-mass-murder/
25. A Super Dumb Mass Murder (2026-03-12), at 23:24. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guXefViRMCk&t=1404s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-12-deprogram-ted-rall-a-super-dumb-mass-murder/
26. A Super Dumb Mass Murder (2026-03-12), at 23:54. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guXefViRMCk&t=1434s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-12-deprogram-ted-rall-a-super-dumb-mass-murder/

---

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