# The denials after Dallas

> **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: "The denials after Dallas," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-denials-after-dallas/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's account, drawn from CIA historical files he read as a junior analyst, of how fast foreign governments moved to clear themselves after the assassination of John F. Kennedy: the Soviets came to the Americans within minutes, the Chinese did the same, and the Cubans asked the Mexicans to pass on that it was not them.*

- **Event:** The assassination of John F. Kennedy, 1963
- **Soviet response:** Contact within minutes, "we swear to God it wasn't us"
- **Chinese response:** The same
- **Cuban response:** Asked the Mexicans to pass on the denial
- **Kiriakou's source:** CIA historical files open to junior analysts

**The denials after Dallas** is [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s account of how quickly foreign governments moved to clear themselves after the assassination of President [John F. Kennedy](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/jfk-assassination), and the reason he gives for doubting that a foreign service would attempt such a thing.

## What the files showed

Kiriakou explains that the [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) keeps its historical documents open to junior analysts, who can simply go through them to get a sense of what a period was like.[1]

What those files recorded was a scramble. The Soviets came to the Americans within minutes of Kennedy being killed, saying *"we swear to God it wasn't us, we swear it wasn't us."* The Chinese did the same thing. The Cubans asked the Mexicans to tell the Americans that it was not them.[1]

## Why he tells it

He raised the episode in July 2024 when asked how much credit to give the idea that a foreign adversary, China, Russia or Iran, had been behind the shooting at [Butler](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/butler-rally-shooting). His answer was that it was unlikely, and the historical record of the denials is the reason: killing an American presidential candidate is a trigger for world war, and no service considers the blowback worth it.[2][3]

His second reason is professional. A foreign service that had decided to do it would not leave the work to a twenty-year-old, would not attempt it from 145 yards, and would not use an AR-15. It would use a professional sniper at five hundred or eight hundred yards, too far away to be seen, *"and he's not going to miss."*[3]

## See also

- [Butler rally shooting](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/butler-rally-shooting)
- [JFK assassination](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/jfk-assassination)
- [Central Intelligence Agency](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia)

## Sources

1. #249 — Trump Assassination Attempt (John is co-guest w/ Matt Cox ✓) (2024-07-16), at 1:33:28. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcgJXirykZE&t=5608s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-07-16-danny-jones-trump-assassination-attempt-john-is-co-guest/
2. #249 — Trump Assassination Attempt (John is co-guest w/ Matt Cox ✓) (2024-07-16), at 1:32:56. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcgJXirykZE&t=5576s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-07-16-danny-jones-trump-assassination-attempt-john-is-co-guest/
3. #249 — Trump Assassination Attempt (John is co-guest w/ Matt Cox ✓) (2024-07-16), at 1:34:00. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcgJXirykZE&t=5640s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-07-16-danny-jones-trump-assassination-attempt-john-is-co-guest/

---

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