The Diary of a CEO with Steve Bartlett

The Diary of a CEO with Steve Bartlett was number 12 when I listened to it. It is ranked number 15 now. The title of the episode I listened to is, "The Diary of a CEO with Steve Bartlett: CIA Whistleblower: They Can See All of Your Messages! I Was Under Surveilance in Pakistan! Interview with John Kiriakou." In this episode the host Steve Bartlett interviewed former CIA agent John Kiriakou. I thought it was an interesting inverview with Kiriakou talking about a lot of things including his personal career, intelligence agencies more generally, and some current events. He had been convicted previously for revealing some classified information regarding the waterboarding program. Kiriakou says he would do it again because we should not be doing torture. He did not mention in this podcast how he also was convicted for revealing agents names. Kiriakou seems likeable but I do have some issues. Mainly, he says he would go to prison to expose torture again but I believe his attempt to get a pardon from Trump makes him not speak the truth now. He sounded exactly like Tucker Carlson concerning Venezuela. He says whether you think it should happen or not, it's happened and there is no reason to talk about it because it's already happened. Like Carlson, Kiriakou has all sorts of criticisms for things that have already happened, but when it involves Trump there is no point to talk about it. According to this Wikipedia article Kiriakou paid $50,000 to a former Trump campaign advisor for a pardon but it wasn't enough. Later, he was told by Rudy Giuliani that a pardon would be $2 million. He wants a pardon to get his $700,000 pension back so that level of money wasn't worth it to him. I give this podcast 4/5. Bartlett asked questions to get Kiriakou to talk but I am taking one off due to it being unchallenged. Interviewing people without challenging them can be damaging if the guest lies. I do think Kiriakou speaks truth sometimes but is also a shady character who is currently seeking to bribe the president for a pardon. When interviewing such a figure there is value in challenging them but I think Kiriakou could say anything.