S2 Bonus Episode: Expert Witness - John Kiriakou's Dead Drop

Summary5 min read

Dead Drop Podcast – S2 Bonus Episode: Expert Witness

Host(s): John Kiriakou & Alan Katz
Date: July 4, 2026

Brief Overview

In this bonus episode of Dead Drop, John Kiriakou offers a personal and revealing look at his role as an expert witness in a recent federal trial. The episode explores issues of FBI entrapment, the plight of the vulnerable in America, and the ethics of counterterrorism operations. Kiriakou recounts in detail the case of Harun Abdelmalek Yener, a homeless and mentally ill man, whom the FBI attempted to recruit and ultimately charged with multiple terrorism-related offenses. The discussion is an exposé on government overreach and the manipulation of justice, told with Kiriakou's characteristic frankness.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Background of the Case

Harun Abdelmalek Yener's Story ([01:00])
- Harun is a 32-year-old, unhoused man living in Miami, having moved from Oklahoma City alone after losing his family.
- He survived while living behind a restaurant and kept his few personal possessions—including a baseball bat with “Thy will be done” scrawled on it and childlike arms drawings—in a storage unit.
Discovery and Police Involvement ([02:00])
- A storage company employee, curious about Harun’s lack of a lock on his unit, entered and found his belongings.
- The police, and later the FBI, became involved after being shown drawings and odd items; the FBI seized Harun's phone and copied his drawings—all without a warrant.

2. FBI Undercover Operation & Entrapment

FBI Contact via Facebook & Informant Tactics ([04:00])
- The FBI used an undercover agent who befriended Harun, exploiting his hunger and isolation by offering food, cigarettes, and companionship.
- The agent claimed to be part of a fictitious “Pineapple Militia,” seeking to recruit Harun for violent acts including blowing up a synagogue and the New York Stock Exchange.
Resistance and Coercion ([06:00])
- Harun repeatedly declined the FBI’s suggestions to participate in violence:
  - “On four separate occasions, Harun said, no, I'm not interested.” ([06:20])
  - The FBI agent responded with emotional manipulation, questioning Harun’s faith and allegiance:
    - “What kind of Muslim are you? I thought we were friends. I vouched for you.” ([07:00])
- Only after continuous pressure did Harun agree to participate—apparently just to appease the agent.

3. Charges and Legal Defense

Severe Charges ([08:00])
- Harun was arrested and charged with six felonies, including conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and conspiracy to murder federal agents, each carrying the possibility of life without parole.
Federal Public Defenders
- Kiriakou lauded the public defenders representing Harun:
  - “The federal public defenders work as hard or harder than any other attorneys I've met in my life.” ([09:30])

4. Kiriakou’s Role as Expert Witness

Testifying for the Defense ([10:00])
- He was brought in to explain to the jury how agent recruitment really works—and how covert operations can target individuals without their knowledge.
Cross-Examination & Whistleblower Reputation ([11:00])
- The prosecution aggressively questioned Kiriakou about his own criminal record as a whistleblower, seeking to discredit him.
- Memorable exchange:
  - Prosecutor: “At the end of the day, Mr. Kiriakou, you really are just a convicted criminal, aren't you?”
  - Kiriakou: “Okay.” ([13:30])
  - Judge intervenes: “We are not supposed to answer rhetorical questions. Move on, counselor.”
  - Kiriakou reflects: “The jury were laughing at him… They loved you. You aced it.”
Clarifying Responsibility ([14:30])
- Public Defender’s rapid redirect highlighted the extent of FBI involvement:
  - “Whose idea was it to blow up the New York Stock Exchange?”
    – “That was the FBI’s idea.”
  - “Who built the bomb? … Who provided the getaway car?”
    – “The FBI did.”
  - “In your expert opinion, who's the criminal in this case?”
    – “The FBI is the criminal in this case.” ([15:00])

5. Trial Outcome and Media Silence

Acquittal and Publicity Disparity ([16:00])
- Harun Yener was acquitted on all charges on June 30.
- Kiriakou observes the stark contrast in media attention:
  - His arrest was national headlines: “the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and with banner coverage in the Miami Herald."
  - His acquittal: “not even noted in a blog. There's not even one word about it on the Internet.” ([17:00])
- Final reflection:
  - “And I think that says a lot about our government.” ([17:15])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On the Oddity of Harun’s Possessions:
- “It's not a crime to be odd. It's not a crime to draw a picture of a gun or a picture of a rocket flying through the air.” ([03:30])
On FBI Tactics:
- “What kind of Muslim are you? I thought we were friends. I vouched for you.” ([07:00])
On Legal Defense:
- “Federal public defenders work as hard or harder than any other attorneys I’ve met in my life.” ([09:30])
On Cross-Examination & Redemption:
- Prosecutor: “At the end of the day, Mr. Kiriakou, you really are just a convicted criminal, aren't you?”
  Kiriakou: “Okay.” ([13:30])
- Judge: “We are not supposed to answer rhetorical questions. Move on, counselor.” ([13:35])
On Agency Responsibility:
- Public Defender: “In your expert opinion, who's the criminal in this case?”
  Kiriakou: “The FBI is the criminal in this case.” ([15:00])
On Media Silence:
- “His acquittal on all charges was not even noted in a blog. There's not even one word about it on the Internet. And I think that says a lot about our government.” ([17:10])

Episode Structure & Flow (Timestamps)

[00:00] – Introduction and episode premise
[01:00] – Harun’s background and plight
[03:00] – Discovery of possessions and law enforcement involvement
[04:00] – FBI undercover operation and entrapment efforts
[08:00] – Arrest, charges, and legal representation
[10:00] – Kiriakou’s expert witness testimony
[13:00] – Cross-examination and court drama
[14:30] – Direct attribution of responsibility for the alleged crimes
[16:00] – Verdict and media coverage disparity
[17:15] – Closing thoughts and reflection

This episode is a searing critique of government tactics in counterterrorism cases, blending Kiriakou's personal experience with courtroom drama and a sobering look at the legal jeopardy faced by society’s most vulnerable. The storytelling is sharp, unvarnished, and deeply empathetic, challenging listeners to reconsider assumptions about justice, entrapment, and institutional accountability.

Loading summary

Transcript1 lines

[00:01]
A
This podcast, it's a costard and touchstone production. Hi, I'm john kiriakou and welcome to a little bonus episode, a mini episode of dead drop. What makes a spy tick? I wanted to tell you about something that has happened to me over the last two weeks. Somehow, and I think it's because I'm out in the public eye as much as I am. I've become a go to person to serve as an expert witness in trials. I've just returned from a trial in western colorado, but I want to tell you about a trial in which I testified a week ago in the federal district court for the southern district of florida. That's the federal court in miami. This story is about A young man, 32 years old, named harun abdelmalek yener. Harun yener lived in coral springs in the miami area. He's unhoused, as we say these days. He had come to miami from oklahoma city, oklahoma, all alone, families dead, no friends, tried to make a new life. Instead, he ended up still homeless, living in the alley behind a restaurant. He was able to scrape enough money together to rent a very small storage unit where he kept his personal possessions. They included a baseball bat on which he had written with sharpie something silly like thy will be done. I should add that harun suffers from mental illness. He also had in this storage unit some childlike drawings of guns and bombs and rockets and missiles. Well, an employee of the storage storage company saw him coming and going, noticed that he didn't have a lock on his unit. He couldn't afford a lock. And so the employee helped himself and just went in. I don't know why. Maybe to burglarize it, maybe to snoop. He was just curious, who knows? He saw the bat, he saw the drawings, and he called the police. The police went to the unit, they saw the same things. They called the FBI and the FBI without a warrant, took his phone, which he had left in the storage unit, made copies of all the drawings of the guns and the missiles and the rockets and pictures of the baseball bat. Well, writing something on a baseball bat is odd, but it's not a crime to be odd. It's not a crime to draw a picture of a gun or a picture of a rocket flying through the air. So what they did is they had an FBI agent acting as an undercover reach out to him on facebook, and the undercover FBI agent said, hey, I was in the restaurant and they told me that you live behind the restaurant in the alley and that you're muslim. I'm Muslim, too. Allahu Akbar. Salaamu alaykum. Hey, let me take you out for a pizza and a beer. The truth was that Harun was hungry, and so he accepted the offer of a pizza and a beer. He and the FBI agent went out, and they started talking and talking and talking, and they ended up communicating via Facebook over the course of hundreds and hundreds of pages of chats. They would also go out to restaurants two, three times a week. The FBI agent would buy Harun cigarettes, pay for his pizza, pay for his beer, call him brother. Call him my best friend. And then the FBI agent said, listen, don't tell anybody, but I'm working with some guys, and we're putting together a militia, and we want to attack Washington, D.C. and overthrow the government and institute a reset. We don't want to change the form of government. We just want to get rid of all these people that are in now and reset it with new people. What do you think? Well, on four separate occasions, Harun said, no, I'm not interested. Then they said, you know what would be cool? It would be cool to blow up a synagogue. You want to do that? And he said, no, I don't want to do that. The FBI started pressuring him. What kind of Muslim are you? I thought we were friends. I vouched for you. The guys in the militia, which, funny enough, was called the Pineapple Militia because it was based in South Florida. Allegedly. Of course, no such militia ever existed. You're making them angry. They thought you were part of the team. They thought you were a brother. Finally he said, okay, okay, I'll do it just to get the guy off of his back. As soon as he said he would help them to blow up the New York Stock Exchange, they grabbed him and arrested him. They charged him with six separate felonies, all of which carried a sentence of life without parole. He was charged with two counts of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder by terrorism, and conspiracy to murder federal agents. Harun is homeless and he's broke, and he couldn't afford a lawyer, so he was assigned the federal public defender. I have a great deal of respect for federal public defenders. I've known a lot of attorneys over the years. I've employed a lot of attorneys over the years. The federal public defenders work as hard or harder than any other attorneys I've met in my life. The federal public defenders reached out to me just two weeks ago and asked if I would read the discovery in the case and if I felt comfortable, testify as an Expert witness on how to recruit an agent, how to carry out a recruitment without the person realizing that he's been recruited. I agreed to testify on behalf of the defense. Harun's trial was the last week of june. I testified just a few days before the end of the trial. I did that via zoom as I was overseas for another event. I testified for about three hours without stopping. The government's questioning was brutal. Really, all they wanted to talk about was my own whistleblowing and my own conviction of violating the intelligence identities protection act. But I frustrated them because I had an answer. Whistleblowing is a defense. And I kept coming back to my whistleblowing. The federal public defender later told me, you. You couldn't see the jury on zoom, but they were laughing at him, meaning the Assistant U.S. attorney. He said, they loved you. You aced it. I kind of thought that I had aced it because the last question that the prosecutor had for me was, and I quote, at the end of the day, Mr. Kiriakou, you really are just a convicted criminal, aren't you? I answered, okay. And he said, not a yes or a no. Oh, I'm sorry, I thought. The judge said, we are not supposed to answer rhetorical questions. And the judge said, move on, counselor. He said, I have no further questions, your honor. And then the public defender jumped up and said, redirect, your honor. And this is exactly how it went. He said, Mr. Kiriakou, whose idea was it to blow up the new york stock exchange? That was the FBI's idea. Whose idea was it to blow up a synagogue? I said, that was the FBI's idea. Who built the bomb? The FBI built the bomb. Who provided the explosives? The FBI provided the explosives. Who provided the timer and the debt cord? The FBI provided the timer and the debt cord. Who provided the getaway car? The FBI provided the getaway car. Mr. Kiriakou, in your expert opinion, who's the criminal in this case? I said, the FBI is the criminal in this case. Well, I'm proud to tell you that yesterday, June 30, Harun Yener was acquitted on all six charges. Funny thing, when he was arrested in November 2024 and. And compared to Osama bin Laden in the USA today, his arrest was covered by every major paper in america. The new york times, the washington post, the wall street journal, and with banner coverage in the miami herald, his acquittal on all charges was not even noted in a blog. There's not even one word about it on the Internet. And I think that says a lot about our government. In any event, I thought you'd want to hear the story. I'm john kiriakou. Thanks for joining us. We'll talk to you soon. Dead drop is written by john kiria kiriakou and alan katz. Costart and touchstone productions produces the podcast and john kiriakou, Alan katz and nick mechanic are its executive producers. This podcast, it's a costard and touchstone production.