Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano spoke to one of America's most well-known whistleblowers, as President Trump pushed back against reports of a government insider's complaint involving a "promise" Trump made to an unnamed foreign leader.
John Kiriakou is a former CIA counter-terrorism operative who spent two years in federal prison and three additional months under house arrest in 2015 for leaking the name of a covert CIA official involved in "enhanced interrogation techniques."
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On Fox Nation's "Liberty Files", Judge Nap asked Kiriakou to describe how a whistleblower is supposed to come forward if they believe they have discovered troubling government behavior.
"This whistleblower decided to do exactly as he was taught and go through the chain of command. He went to the CIA’s inspector general...the inspector general said that the complaint was credible. And so the Inspector General took it to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, where it was covered up," alleged Kiriakou, referring to the decision of Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire not to share details of the complaint with lawmakers.
Maguire's decision set off the current showdown with Congress. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., has subpoenaed Maguire accusing him of withholding a whistleblower complaint from Congress and questioning whether he had been directed to do so by the White House or the attorney general.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, alongside visiting Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the president blamed a “partisan whistleblower” and called the complaint “just another political hack job.”
Judge Naps observed that the complaint may never see the light of day, "if Congress can’t pry it loose from [the Director of National Intelligence]."
"That’s right. And apparently the whistleblower, whoever he or she was, recognized that it was going nowhere in the chain of command, and so he went to Congress. And it’s only because the Congressional Oversight committees have taken an interest that we even know about this story. It’s not over yet, it still may be killed," agreed Kiriakou.
Kiriakou also expressed that he believes the system to report whistleblower charges is defective.
"At the CIA and in the rest of the Intelligence community we are taught to go through the chain of command. The chain of command is broken. The chain of command doesn't work. In my own case, when I blew the whistle on the torture program, I decided to go public because my chain of command created the torture program, and Congress was implicated as well. The chain of command made no sense to me," said Kiriakou reflecting on his own experience.
To see more of "Liberty File with Judge Napolitano," visit Fox Nation and join today.
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