# Joby Warrick's Washington Post resignation

> **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: "Joby Warrick's Washington Post resignation," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/joby-warrick-washington-post-resignation/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's account of his friend Joby Warrick, a multiple Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, resigning from the Washington Post because investigative journalism at the paper was dead — amid an 80% staff reduction since Jeff Bezos bought the paper.*

- **Journalist:** Joby Warrick, Washington Post
- **Per Kiriakou:** Multiple Pulitzer Prize winner; personal friend
- **Reason given:** Investigative journalism at the Washington Post is dead
- **Context:** 80% of Washington Post staff let go since Jeff Bezos bought the paper, per Kiriakou

**Joby Warrick's Washington Post resignation** is [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s account of a friend and multiple Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist at the *Washington Post* leaving the paper because, in Kiriakou's telling, investigative journalism there was dead. Kiriakou describes Warrick as on the level of Woodward and Bernstein, and says he resigned two weeks before the interview.[1]

Kiriakou attributes the decline to ownership under Jeff Bezos, saying 80% of *Washington Post* employees have been let go since Bezos bought the paper — a newspaper, he notes, that once brought down a president through the Watergate investigation. He says real investigative journalism has instead migrated to outlets such as ProPublica, the Brennan Center, Drop Site News, and The Grayzone.[2]

## The relationship, and why Kiriakou rates him

The acquaintance is long-standing: Warrick was one of the first reporters to interview Kiriakou, in 2007, and Kiriakou's shorthand for him is *"a good, solid reporter."* What he singles out is Warrick's willingness to be the sober voice in the room and tell people what they do not want to hear, and — the professional distinction Kiriakou draws most sharply — that he is *"not the kind of journalist who's going to just take a CIA press release and digest it."* Warrick works human sources he can use to confirm or deny what he is handed. Kiriakou credits him with speaking openly about the limits of that method too, that sources have motives of their own and a reporter will sometimes be fed information precisely because someone wants it out.[3][4][5]

The two also crossed at an auction. The *Post* sent Warrick to cover the sale of [Lincoln's last turd](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/lincolns-last-turd), at which Kiriakou was an unsuccessful bidder; his reaction on seeing the byline was *"Joby, we can't be bidding against each other."*[3]

## See also

- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)
- [Lincoln's last turd](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/lincolns-last-turd)
- [Bob Woodward's CIA headquarters access](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bob-woodward-cia-access)

## Sources

1. Former Spy Reveals the Brutal Survival Rules Inside the (2026-05-20), at 26:35. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf8xsrnBBs0&t=1595s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-20-covert-operations-insight/
2. Former Spy Reveals the Brutal Survival Rules Inside the (2026-05-20), at 27:39. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf8xsrnBBs0&t=1659s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-20-covert-operations-insight/
3. #278 — MK Ultra, USAID, Overthrowing Governments (2025-02-25), at 1:26:31. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CFWmuIgQIE&t=5191s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-02-25-mk-ultra-usaid-overthrowing-governments/
4. #278 — MK Ultra, USAID, Overthrowing Governments (2025-02-25), at 1:27:02. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CFWmuIgQIE&t=5222s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-02-25-mk-ultra-usaid-overthrowing-governments/
5. #278 — MK Ultra, USAID, Overthrowing Governments (2025-02-25), at 1:27:32. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CFWmuIgQIE&t=5252s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-02-25-mk-ultra-usaid-overthrowing-governments/

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