# Suggested responses

> **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: "Suggested responses," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/suggested-responses/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The second email John Kiriakou says arrived before his first appearance on Fox News, a list of suggested responses to accompany the questions the producers had already sent him, which he ignored, and which he says was never sent again.*

- **Programme:** Fox and Friends
- **When:** About fifteen years before the 2026 telling
- **First email:** The questions, sent so he could prepare
- **Second email:** Suggested responses
- **Kiriakou's reaction:** He ignored it
- **Repeated:** Never again, in his account

**Suggested responses** refers to an email John Kiriakou says he received from Fox News producers before his first television appearance on the network.

## The two emails

Kiriakou has said that the first time he went on Fox, on the morning programme *Fox and Friends*, the producers told him they would send over the questions so that he could prepare, which he welcomed. As he was reading through the questions a second email arrived from the same people. Its subject was suggested responses. [1]

His reaction, as he recounts it, was *"oh no you don't. Absolutely not"*, and he ignored it. He says they only did it once, and dates the episode to roughly fifteen years before the telling. [1]

## Why he still appears

Kiriakou has set the anecdote against his general policy on media invitations. He says CNN no longer calls him and MSNBC stopped calling years ago, but that he is on Fox all the time, usually, he adds, because they want him to take a swipe at the CIA or to explain something the agency is doing. He says he never says no, *"because they're the only ones that ask."* [2]

This is the same answer he has given when challenged about appearing on Sputnik: that they were the only ones who asked, and that so long as an outlet does not tell him what to say or what to do, he will talk to anybody. [3] [4]

## A related practice

Kiriakou has described a further habit he attributes to all the networks: an invitation to appear, followed by a request for a quick pre-interview, followed, a minute after he gives his opinion on the question, by a call back saying they have decided to go a different way on the story and will not need him that evening. [5]

## See also

- [The Pre Interview](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-pre-interview)
- [The Npr Walkout](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-npr-walkout)
- [The Convicted Felon Introduction](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-convicted-felon-introduction)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)

## Sources

1. Scott Has Questions for John Kiriakou / DMZ America Podcast (2026-03-19), at 21:59. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygEFDZAXzWM&t=1319s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-19-dmz-america-podcast-scott-has-questions-for-john-kiriakou-dmz-ame/
2. Scott Has Questions for John Kiriakou / DMZ America Podcast (2026-03-19), at 21:27. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygEFDZAXzWM&t=1287s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-19-dmz-america-podcast-scott-has-questions-for-john-kiriakou-dmz-ame/
3. Scott Has Questions for John Kiriakou / DMZ America Podcast (2026-03-19), at 20:26. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygEFDZAXzWM&t=1226s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-19-dmz-america-podcast-scott-has-questions-for-john-kiriakou-dmz-ame/
4. Scott Has Questions for John Kiriakou / DMZ America Podcast (2026-03-19), at 20:56. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygEFDZAXzWM&t=1256s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-19-dmz-america-podcast-scott-has-questions-for-john-kiriakou-dmz-ame/
5. Scott Has Questions for John Kiriakou / DMZ America Podcast (2026-03-19), at 22:29. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygEFDZAXzWM&t=1349s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-19-dmz-america-podcast-scott-has-questions-for-john-kiriakou-dmz-ame/

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