# Phil Mudd

> **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: "Phil Mudd," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/phil-mudd/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*Former CIA and FBI official turned television commentator, whom John Kiriakou uses alongside John Brennan as an example of a pattern he says governs Washington: senior intelligence alumni making escalating on-air accusations against Donald Trump as a route to a network contract or a return to government.*

- **Known for:** Television commentary on CNN
- **Background:** [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) and [FBI](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fbi)
- **Kiriakou's reading:** Auditioning for a show of his own, and for a deputy directorship
- **Quoted of Trump:** A petulant child who needs a pacifier and a new rattle
- **Grouped with:** [John Brennan](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-brennan)

**Phil Mudd** is a former [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) and [FBI](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fbi) official turned television commentator. [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) brings him up not for anything he did in government but as the second data point in a pattern, introduced with the words *"there are others like John."*[1]

## The pattern

The observation is that the escalating on-air denunciations of [Donald Trump](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/donald-trump) by senior intelligence alumni are, in Kiriakou's reading, career moves rather than assessments. He quotes Mudd's contribution — Trump is *"a petulant child"*; Trump *"needs a pacifier and a new rattle"* — and then supplies what he takes to be the motive: *"Phil's trying to get his own show on CNN, and Phil wants to be the deputy director of the FBI or the deputy director of the CIA."*[1]

He extends the same reading to [John Brennan](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-brennan), whose ambition Kiriakou places on the Pentagon, and treats the two together as evidence of a market rather than of a conspiracy. His summary is a shrug rather than an accusation: *"I mean, that's Washington. That's just the way it is."*[1]

The conclusion Kiriakou draws from the pattern is not about either man but about the audience for them — that a viewer who dislikes Trump is not thereby obliged to believe the people attacking him. That argument is set out at [no good guy](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/no-good-guy).[2]

## See also

- [John Brennan](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-brennan)
- [No Good Guy](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/no-good-guy)
- [Donald Trump](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/donald-trump)
- [Deep state](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/deep-state)

## Sources

1. CIA Whistleblower: John Brennan Is Out For Himself, Not the (2018-08-24), at 07:49. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2pTbYqWYos&t=469s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2018-08-24-the-real-news-network-cia-whistleblower-john-brennan-is-out-for-him/
2. CIA Whistleblower: John Brennan Is Out For Himself, Not the (2018-08-24), at 08:22. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2pTbYqWYos&t=502s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2018-08-24-the-real-news-network-cia-whistleblower-john-brennan-is-out-for-him/

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