Former CIA Officer John Kiriakou: John Brennan and Robert Mueller "Set Out To Ruin People"

FNC's Tucker Carlson hosts John Kiriakou, a former CIA Pakistan station chief who was imprisoned for leaking the fact that the CIA waterboarded terrorists in 2007, to discuss the dangers of an out of control intelligence community. "In 2007, the Bush administration investigated me and determined I hadn't committed a crime" for leaking about the torture program, Kiriakau explained. "When Barack Obama became president, John Brennan became the number two at the National Security Council, and he asked the Justice Department, Eric Holder, to secretly reopen the case against me. That went to Robert Mueller." "The injustice is incredible," he said, "this is why I'm so happy to have this opportunity to speak with you tonight because I know Robert Mueller and I know John Brennan, and this is what they do. They set out to ruin people." "Russiagate that has nothing whatsoever to do with Russia, by the way. And none of these indictments have anything to do with anything. They're what are called throw-away indictments," he said. "So, what you have is a man, Robert Mueller, who chooses a person, and then looks for a crime to hang on the person rather than discovering a crime and then investigating to see who committed the crime." <blockquote>CARLSON: Thank you. Well, the message of recent news coverage is pretty simple. You need to trust the FBI, the DOJ, the intelligence community. Demanding any congressional oversight of any kind is evidence of treason. John Kiriakou was a longtime CIA counterterrorism officer in the Middle East, Pakistan, all over the world. He was imprisoned for a couple of years by the Obama administration for leaking information. During the course of that, his life intersected with Robert Mueller and John Brennan, among others. He joins us tonight. John, thanks a lot for coming on. JOHN KIRIAKOU, FORMER CIA OFFICER: Thanks so much for having me. CARLSON: So, a lot has been written about your case. You wrote a book about your time in prison. Not much has been written about your intersection with two men in the news now, and you did intimately. Brennan with whom you worked for many years and Robert Mueller. Tell us what you learned. KIRIAKOU: Well, Robert Mueller, I had a more recent encounter with, and that when he created the John Kiriakou task force at the Justice Department. He was the head of the FBI at the time. I had no idea that I was under investigation. When I went public on the CIA's torture program in late 2007, the Bush administration investigated me and determined that I hadn't committed a crime. They closed the case. Just a few weeks later, when Barack Obama became president, John Brennan became the number two at the National Security Council, and he asked the Justice Department, Eric Holder, to secretly reopen the case against me. That went to Robert Mueller. He created this John Kiriakou task force - CARLSON: You're telling me that John Brennan, who has a documented history of leaking to the press, asked for a criminal investigation into you, which resulted you going to prison with five kids because you leaked? KIRIAKOU: Exactly. When I said that to my attorneys, the only response they could come up with was that's Washington. The injustice is incredible. And this is why I'm so happy to have this opportunity to speak with you tonight because I know Robert Mueller and I know John Brennan, and this is what they do. They set out to ruin people. We look at these indictments in this called Russiagate. Russiagate that has nothing whatsoever to do with Russia, by the way. And none of these indictments have anything to do with anything. They're what are called throw-away indictments. So, what you have is a man, Robert Mueller, who chooses a person, and then looks for a crime to hang on the person rather than discovering a crime and then investigating to see who committed the crime. CARLSON: I just can't get past the fact that John Brennan, again, with whom you worked for years, who we know leaked to the press classified information, agitating for you to go to prison because he said you leaked. KIRIAKOU: In fact, it was even worse than that. Once I was arrested and we received discovery from the Justice Department, we received several memos between John Brennan and the Justice Department. The first memo said charge him with espionage. And then, the Justice Department wrote back and said but he hasn't committed espionage. And then, Brennan wrote back, charge him anyway and make him defend himself. And that's what they did. And what they do - and this is what Robert Mueller did, he waited until I went bankrupt ten months later and then dropped the charges. Again, that's what they do. It's a way of exerting pressure that you just simply can't resist. They have unlimited resources and you don't. CARLSON: We don't have time to get into the details of your case. It's easily available online. I followed it because I'm a journalist. I would just say two things. I wish more journalists had supported you. I think you were shafted. KIRIAKOU: Thank you.</blockquote>