# "Only Fox came to my defence" > **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: ""Only Fox came to my defence"," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/only-fox-came-to-my-defence/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *John Kiriakou's account of how the American networks labelled him — MSNBC never using the word whistleblower and calling him a CIA leaker, CNN taking a year to change, and Fox, he says, being the only outlet that defended him at the time — offered as evidence that the label a case receives is drawn along political lines rather than factual ones.* - **MSNBC:** Never called him a whistleblower; "CIA leaker" - **CNN:** Took about a year to use the word - **Fox:** "Only Fox came to my defence" - **Kiriakou's conclusion:** "Political lines are drawn, and that's really where these things usually turn" Discussing the 2019 Ukraine complainant, [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) was invited to note the contrast with his own treatment: that he had made allegations which turned out to be true and had gone to prison for making them. ## The correction he volunteers When his interviewer began listing the outlets that had turned on him, Kiriakou interrupted with a distinction of his own. "Actually, only Fox came to my defence. That's something you and I never talked about."[1] ## The labels "MSNBC never called me a whistleblower. They called me 'CIA leaker.'" CNN, he says, took about a year before deciding to use the word.[2] ## The conclusion "It's tough being a whistleblower. Political lines are drawn, and that's really where these things usually turn."[2] That is the point he then applies in reverse to the Ukraine case: "we are seeing the Democrats do the same thing right now with this CIA officer. They are telling us, imposing upon us their notion that this person is a whistleblower, and he simply is not."[2] Kiriakou's argument is symmetrical rather than partisan: the label follows from whose case it helps. He accepts that Fox defended him while MSNBC would not, and treats that as an illustration of the same mechanism, not as proof that one network is more honest than another. ## The rest of the account In the same interview he restates the shape of his own prosecution in compressed form: 23 months in prison; [Robert Mueller](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/robert-mueller) set it up; [John Brennan](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-brennan) petitioned Attorney General Holder to charge him with five felonies including [espionage](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/espionage-act), all of which were dismissed. And, he adds, "ironically it was Peter Strzok who put the cuffs on me in 2012."[3] He also does not expect the Ukraine complainant to face anything comparable. Asked whether that person would serve nearly two years in prison, his answer was: "not a chance."[4] ## See also - [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) - [The order of the whistleblower process](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-order-of-the-whistleblower-process) - [The Ukraine call whistleblower](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ukraine-call-whistleblower) - [John Brennan](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-brennan) - [CIA media revolving door](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia-media-revolving-door) ## Sources 1. CIA whistleblower: This is an insult to real whistleblowers (2019-10-10), at 02:38. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXfpRLeLH70&t=158s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-10-10-fox-news-cia-whistleblower-this-is-an-insult-to-real-w/ 2. CIA whistleblower: This is an insult to real whistleblowers (2019-10-10), at 03:08. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXfpRLeLH70&t=188s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-10-10-fox-news-cia-whistleblower-this-is-an-insult-to-real-w/ 3. CIA whistleblower: This is an insult to real whistleblowers (2019-10-10), at 02:07. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXfpRLeLH70&t=127s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-10-10-fox-news-cia-whistleblower-this-is-an-insult-to-real-w/ 4. CIA whistleblower: This is an insult to real whistleblowers (2019-10-10), at 03:39. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXfpRLeLH70&t=219s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2019-10-10-fox-news-cia-whistleblower-this-is-an-insult-to-real-w/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/only-fox-came-to-my-defence/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt