# Kyriakos Mitsotakis > **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: "Kyriakos Mitsotakis," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kyriakos-mitsotakis/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The Greek prime minister John Kiriakou names when asked which world leader he would put in Donald Trump's place, a choice he qualifies by admitting he did not vote for the man the first time and has since been pleasantly surprised.* - **Named as spoken:** "Konstantine Mitsotakis", a slip or caption artifact; Konstantinos was his father - **Asked:** Which world leader he would replace Donald Trump with - **His answer:** "Oh, that's an easy one for me" - **His own vote:** "I did not vote for him the first time" - **Since then:** "I have been very pleasantly surprised" - **Education cited:** Harvard bachelor's and master's degrees; an Oxford doctorate - **The Washington Post line:** That his English was better than Trump's **Kyriakos Mitsotakis** is the prime minister of Greece and [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s answer to a viewer who asked, on 25 February 2026, which world leader he would put in Donald Trump's place. He did not need time to think about it. *"Oh, that's an easy one for me… Mitsotakis. This guy has proven to be such a terrific leader for Greece."*[1] *(The transcript renders the first name as "Konstantine", the name of the prime minister's father, Konstantinos Mitsotakis. The reference is to the sitting prime minister and the artifact is preserved here as spoken.)* ## The admission attached to it What gives the endorsement its weight is that Kiriakou volunteers having been wrong about the man. *"I will admit that I did not vote for him the first time. Uh but I have been very pleasantly surprised."*[1] The aside also documents something the corpus otherwise records only obliquely: that Kiriakou, who [holds Greek citizenship](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-greek-citizenship), votes in Greek elections. ## Why he rates him His supporting evidence is partly a compliment paid at Trump's expense. *"When he came to the United States during Trump's first term to meet with Trump, the Washington Post commented that his English was better than Trump's."*[1] And partly credentials: *"He's got a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from Harvard and a PhD from Oxford. And he's been a terrific prime minister."*[2] The judgement sits alongside a much harder one Kiriakou gives elsewhere about the same government, that it is *"solidly pro-Israel"* against the grain of Greek public opinion, for reasons he traces to [the gas under Cyprus](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-east-mediterranean-gas-partnership). He does not reconcile the two, and both are preserved here. ## See also - [Kiriakou's Greek citizenship](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-greek-citizenship) - [The east Mediterranean gas partnership](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-east-mediterranean-gas-partnership) - [Greek Intelligence Service](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/greek-intelligence-service) - [Donald Trump](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/donald-trump) ## Sources 1. DeProgram (Ted Rall) (2026-02-25), at 32:17. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI7gFn7KjzI&t=1937s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-25-deprogram-ted-rall-deprogram-ted-rall/ 2. DeProgram (Ted Rall) (2026-02-25), at 32:48. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI7gFn7KjzI&t=1968s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-25-deprogram-ted-rall-deprogram-ted-rall/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kyriakos-mitsotakis/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt