Whistleblowers tend to live their lives looking over their shoulders, often on the run or in hiding. John Kiriakou is not that type of whistleblower. After a career in the CIA’s shadowy work across the world, his decision to blow the whistle on the CIA’s secret torture program led him first to the inside of prison, then to the bright lights of social media, and now, to the set of ‘Mehdi Unfiltered,’ in Washington DC, to answer some of the most controversial questions out there.

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“I assume that there are things that you know that you still can’t say. How bad are they?” Mehdi asks Kiriakou. “It’s pretty ugly,” Kiriakou responded. Viewers will notice that this is not your typical ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’ episode or interview; that’s because when your guest recruited spies for a living, there is a lot to talk about - and discover. Their wide-ranging conversation includes:

• Why Kiriakou thought the CIA was going to “pin” its Bush-era torture program on him, forcing him to go public.

• Mehdi’s probing into Kiriakou’s conflicting statements regarding the effectiveness of torture as an interrogation technique.

• Whether or not Jeffrey Epstein and his partner-in-crime Ghislaine Maxwell were Israeli spies.

• How big a role Israel played in pushing the U.S. into war with Iran.

• How much money Rudy Giuliani allegedly wanted as a fee for getting Kiriakou a pardon from Donald Trump.

• Whether or not Kiriakou actually endorsed a racist far-right candidate in Florida’s Republican gubernatorial primary.

• Why he chose to work for Russian state media after serving his prison sentence.

• Plus: his take on Donald Trump’s not-so-personal calls on his cellphone. “It’s got to be a dozen different countries listening to these calls.”

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Paid subscribers can watch the full video above to hear whether Kiriakou would advise anyone to still join the CIA today. Free subscribers can watch a 2-minute preview. Consider becoming a paid subscriber to unlock content like this and a lot more from Zeteo.

Note: This interview was taped prior to the resignation of U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on May 22, 2026.

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In this video, Mehdi explains why President Donald Trump should have known his war on Iran was bound to go on longer than anticipated – and why the Iranians weren’t just going to roll over so quickly.

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Watch above to see Mehdi remind viewers of the Iran-Iraq War – and how Iran held out against Iraq’s attacks for almost a decade in the 1980s, even in the face of Iraqi chemical weapon attacks supported by the U.S.

As per usual, Mehdi brings the receipts, revealing official government documents that show just how complicit the U.S. government under Ronald Reagan was in Iraqi war crimes.

Why, asks an exasperated Mehdi, do Americans have such short memories compared to the people in the Middle East?

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In a riveting, can’t-miss interview on ‘Mehdi Unfiltered,’ Lewis talks to Mehdi about becoming anti-Zionist, something he calls a “journey from the propaganda, the pro-Israel myths that we were all brought up on.”

“At this point in the genocidal period, I think it’s really, really clear where Jews of conscience stand,” Lewis says, adding that the majority of Jewish people in North America are “deeply disturbed” by Israel’s genocide.

Also during this fascinating interview, Mehdi and Lewis discuss:

• How he plans to rebuild a party that now only has five seats in Parliament

• Why he didn’t run in a recent by-election in Quebec

• Prime Minister Mark Carney’s “mixed signals” on Trump’s war against Iran

• Why an NDP MP recently crossed the floor to join the Liberal Party

• Losing his father, Stephen Lewis, just two days after winning the leadership.

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Editor’s Note: Avi Lewis is the husband of Zeteo contributor Naomi Klein.

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Since then, you could say she’s turned her back on the pro-Israel lobby. She’s taken a stand against Israel, co-sponsoring key legislation like the Block the Bombs Act and the Gaza Genocide resolution.

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“Everything about that [AIPAC] money has been toxic,” Dexter tells Mehdi, “It was a mistake.”

For the first time publicly, she’s swearing off taking any future AIPAC money. “The Netanyahu government is clearly misguided. He’s a war criminal. What’s happening in Gaza is a genocide. I have no qualms about saying those things out loud.”

But AIPAC isn’t the only topic they discussed. In this wide-ranging interview, Mehdi also presses Rep. Dexter on:

• Whether the U.S. should fund defensive weapons to Israel

• Her Iran War Powers resolution

• Trump’s billion-dollar ballroom renovation

• Whether she supports Hakeem Jeffries’s leadership

• Her latest oversight visit to ICE detention facilities in Texas.

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Ammar Campa-Najjar grew up in the mosque community, attended school there as a child, and was friends with one of the victims – 78-year-old Mansour Kaziha (also known as Abu Ezz). The Mexican-Palestinian-American Navy reserve officer is now running for Congress in California’s competitive 48th district, a key race for Democratic hopes to take back the House – and pro-Israel groups have spent nearly $2 million against him.

Campa-Najjar tells Mehdi the attack on the mosque “did not happen in a vacuum,” but rather in a political environment that is filled with xenophobia and Islamophobia.

“Advisers to this president, including Laura Loomer, who literally said that I’m trying to ‘Islamify’ the military,” Campa-Najjar says, “what she doesn’t understand is that Muslims serve our country every single day, like the security guard who protected those children. Like military officers who serve alongside me, who go to this mosque.”

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Campa-Najjar talks about his primary campaign with Mehdi, who challenges him on his position on US funding for the Iron Dome as well as the Super PACs backing him. The two also discuss Campa-Najjar’s childhood in Gaza, far-right claims that his grandfather was a ‘Palestinian terrorist,’ and the need for Medicare-for-All.

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Rana Dbeis, the mother of a five-year-old student and a close friend of one of the victims, joined Mehdi on ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’ to discuss the tragedy and growing Islamophobia in Donald Trump’s America.

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“I haven’t personally felt safe in a long time,” Rana says. “It really, really amplified after Trump and the whole MAGA movement gained a lot of traction… The political atmosphere is extremely violent now. It’s supercharged.”

Watch the full video above to hear Rana describe the terrifying moment she learned there was an active shooter at her son’s school, call out the “disgusting” lack of accountability for Islamophobes like Laura Loomer and JD Vance, and share what she wants people to know about her community at the Islamic Center of San Diego.

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In a new ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’ interview, Mehdi speaks with Dr. Cindy Harmon-Jones, a senior lecturer in the School of Psychology at Western Sydney University, who recently published a new academic study dedicated to answering that very question.

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Harmon-Jones, an expert in cognitive dissonance, tells Mehdi she wanted to understand why Trump supporters stand by him despite the allegations of sexual abuse and other criminal behavior. Her study found three common justifications offered by MAGA movement members.

Mehdi and Harmon-Jones also discuss just how Trump-specific this cult-like support is, what might convince long-time supporters to finally turn their backs on the president, and why people fell hook, line, and sinker for this lawless, lying president in the first place.

“There is quite a bit of research showing that when people feel like they’re under threat, they will turn to authoritarianism,” Harmon-Jones says, particularly “conservatives or right-wing-type people.”

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Turns out, they’re coordinating messages in one, big group chat. At least that’s according to former MAGA influencer Ashley St. Clair.

Yes, the mother of one of Elon Musk’s children is now torching the online right and exposing some of their biggest secrets on her TikTok account.

She tells Mehdi that “there’s multiple chats they operate in,” which often include Trump administration officials and Trump children. Specifically, she reveals that during her time as a MAGA influencer, she was “offered a hefty sum of money to promote Ric Grenell for secretary of state.” (Grenell has previously denied being part of any such effort.)

Since leaving MAGA, St. Clair has been targeted by members of the administration, other MAGA influencers, and even Elon Musk. She even reveals that since shifting her own political positions and abandoning her previous hard-right beliefs, she has been pressured to stay silent and has “turned down enough money that it is the GDP of a small nation.”

But how, exactly, did St. Clair escape the MAGA cult? And is her conversion sincere or is she just another ex-conservative trying to grift off of new liberal audiences?

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In this wide-ranging interview, Mehdi and Ashley St. Clair discuss:

• Her ascent in MAGA politics and the dangerous, hateful rhetoric she amplified

• What made her leave MAGA and Trump

• How support for Israel has divided MAGA and her own view of the “genocide”

• Her relationship with Elon Musk and what attracted her to the tech billionaire

• Her lawsuit against xAI, after it produced sexually explicit deepfakes of her

• The threats she and her family have received since leaving MAGA

• Whether she and other ex-MAGA figures like Marjorie Taylor Greene can really be trusted.

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If you’ve watched this spat play out online in recent days and wondered whether you’re losing your mind, you’re not alone.

Watch Mehdi’s latest monologue above to hear him correct the record on what AOC and MTG actually have said and done – on Gaza, on Trump, on Jan. 6 – and explain why the “MTG is better than AOC” line being pushed by a loud online minority of alleged leftists is, to put it plainly, nonsense.

As ever, Zeteo’s editor-in-chief brings receipts. Lots of them!

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The latest article from New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, detailing the rape and sexual assault of Palestinian detainees at the hands of prison guards, soldiers, settlers, and interrogators, has really upset the pro-Israel camp. One of the Israeli lawyers quoted in the piece joins Mehdi to talk about what goes on in Israeli prisons.

“We have books written about it. We have testimonies. We have film testimonies even of the soldiers committing these acts,” says Ben Marmarelli, an anti-Zionist Israeli lawyer and author, “the world only listens when the New York Times publishes it.”

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Marmarelli spent years defending Palestinians under Israel’s two-tier judicial system, and he describes to Mehdi just how bad life is for Palestinian prisoners. “I had a client that was being raped every time I came to see him. So that means that it’s not even committed by the same guard or guards.”

Marmarelli is a lawyer to several Palestinian detainees, including the most prominent Palestinian behind bars today, Marwan Barghouti. As the last person on the outside to meet the popular Palestinian leader, Marmarelli tells Mehdi that Barghouti was “severely beaten 10 times since the 7th of October. His ribs were broken. His hearing was damaged in his right ear.”

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Marmarelli brings his expertise as a lawyer and his experience living in Israel to discuss the issues most Israelis choose to avoid at all costs, including:

• How thousands of Palestinian detainees are actually hostages being held by Israel with no charges.

• Why he considers liberal Zionists as “the worst.”

• How Zionists are okay with the treatment of Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

• Whether Marwan Barghouti can still lead the Palestinian people.

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“Even animals can’t just pass this obstacle,” community leader and human rights activist Eid Suleiman tells Zeteo.

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For weeks, the children of Umm al-Khair have been protesting the one right they thought was universal, protected, and cherished by global society: the right to an education.

“I can’t… tell the 6-year-old kid to walk through all these obstacles and go to his school and be safe,” says Suleiman, who adds this is just one of the many ways Israel is tearing down Palestine’s education system. “We should, if we can, find the support for these students and help them to keep their education.”

Zeteo’s Mohammed Abdelbary contributed to this reporting.

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“All I’m asking for is 1% of what the world spends on guns and arms,” Fletcher tells Mehdi as his organization continues to suffer the ripple effects of global conflicts, with Trump’s war with Iran making his job significantly more difficult. “We’ll be paying for this for years.”

Fletcher is well-suited to speak about the suffering that exists around the world, and during his conversation with Mehdi, he does:

• He says the situation in Gaza is “better” than when he and Mehdi spoke a year ago, but massive challenges remain.

• He highlights the dire displacement crisis in Lebanon, where Mehdi presses the reluctant UN official about calling out Israel for its war crimes.

• He underscores the severity of the war in Sudan, where he says humanitarians are forced to “choose which lives to save and which lives not to save.”

• He explains how the UN determines what aid goes where.

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Paid subscribers can watch this important interview in full to hear Mehdi question the UN official about the UAE’s funding pledge for aid in a humanitarian crisis the country itself is arguably fueling. Free subscribers can watch a 3-minute preview. Consider becoming a paid subscriber to unlock content like this and a lot more from Zeteo.

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Steyer is running on a progressive agenda to build one million homes, ban corporate PAC money from state elections, and prosecute ICE agents. He’s polling near the top of an extremely tight race.

In this timely ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’ interview, Mehdi asks Steyer about his plan to put ICE agents and officials in jail in California when the Trump administration has already promised them federal immunity.

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“I do think we should be working to abolish ICE because I do think it’s a criminal organization, and I don’t believe that you can reform a criminal organization,” Steyer tells Mehdi, adding that the country needs immigration services, but not from ICE.

During this wide-ranging interview, Mehdi also asks Steyer:

• About his former hedge fund’s investments in the fossil fuel industry

• Why he’s campaigning on single-payer healthcare but not Medicare for All

• How he would respond to critics who argue he’s trying to buy this election

• Whether he agrees with AOC that billionaires don’t make a billion dollars, they “take a billion dollars”

• If he supports campaign finance reform that would prevent billionaires like him from spending big money in politics

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The creators say making a game was a natural way to reach a wide audience. “The gaming industry is actually larger than film and music combined,” says UPF Assistant Producer Ariella Gayotto Hohl.

Executive Producer Alex Kronemer adds, “There’s an audience who will never watch a film or never watch a documentary. So how do you also reach that audience? And that was the idea of doing a game.”

The pair also talks about Islamophobia in the US today, the geopolitical moment in which the game is being released, and whether even Mehdi himself, who was never good at video games, could master “Vanished.”

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Mehdi spoke to the FCC’s only Democratic Commissioner, Anna Gomez, after the agency ordered eight Disney-owned TV stations to file early broadcast license renewals.

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“This is unprecedented. It’s unlawful,” Gomez says. “It’s a political stunt and it’s bound to fail.”

Mehdi also pushed Gomez on whether the FCC is indeed acting independently, as it is meant to do. “We are clearly not behaving independently,” says Gomez. “We seem to be doing the bidding of this White House.”

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Paid subscribers can watch the whole interview, where Gomez expands on the FCC’s “egregious assault” on the First Amendment and Chair Brendan Carr’s hypocritical about-face during Trump’s presidency.

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In the first part of this wide-ranging, in-depth, world-exclusive Zeteo interview in London, Mehdi presses Khan about the allegations made against him. The ICC chief prosecutor says he has been “exonerated” and should be allowed to return to work, after a panel of judges unanimously concluded that the UN investigation results “do not establish misconduct or a breach of duty under the relevant legal framework.”

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Mehdi and Khan then discuss the ICC’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, with Mehdi asking him whether he believes Netanyahu will ever end up in court and why the ICC chief prosecutor chose not to charge Netanyahu with the crime of genocide. Mehdi also asks Khan about the ICC’s other cases, including against top Taliban leaders in Afghanistan and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

Some key moments from this news-making interview include:

• Khan’s denial of the sexual misconduct allegations and his criticism of some of the ICC member countries’ handling of the investigation process (“This isn’t how due process works, it’s the opposite of due process,” Khan says)

• Mehdi’s pushback on Khan’s denial, asking him about any relationship he may have had with the accuser (“According to the UN investigators, you would not confirm whether you had a sexual relationship with the accuser. Why not?” Mehdi asks)

• The shocking statements that US Senator Lindsey Graham and former UK Prime Minister David Cameron made to Khan before he requested the arrest warrants against Israel

• Whether the ICC could still charge Israel with genocide (“No crime is off limits,” Khan says)

• Khan’s response to criticism that he did not give Palestinians the attention they deserved after October 7th

• What it is like for him and his family to be targeted by Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, and Benjamin Netanyahu at the same time (“One takes these jobs in public service, not for aggrandizement or for comfort,” Khan says)

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Sound familiar?

That’s how the Trump administration has described the rulers of Iran over the last few months in an effort to justify starting an illegal war that has now destabilized the entire Middle East.

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But, as Mehdi points out in his latest monologue, it’s not the Iranians who are pushing for a holy war in the Middle East — it’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, covered in crusader and Islamophobic tattoos, who has repeatedly called on Jesus Christ himself to help US forces unleash “overwhelming violence” on Iranians and deliver their souls to “eternal damnation.”

In the video above, Mehdi takes a deep-dive into Hegseth’s open Christian nationalism and messianic militaristic agenda, and reframes the narrative of who actually wants a holy war in the Holy Land.

This is a video you really need to watch!

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“It’s really hard to see how little attention this conflict is getting,“ says Jacobs, who is working to reintroduce a bill to prohibit US arms sales to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), believed to be the main backer of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), one of the two warring parties in this conflict. “We are the biggest seller of weapons to the UAE. The UAE is the biggest funder and armer of the RSF, which has been found by our State Department to have committed genocide.”

As the youngest Jewish member of Congress, Jacobs is also vocal in her opposition to much of what Israel and the Netanyahu government are actively doing to Palestinians - even if it costs her friends in her own community. She tells Mehdi that her work on holding Israel accountable for its war crimes has revealed the hypocrisy of many pro-Israel Jewish organizations in the US that claim to stand on the side of all Jewish people. “I had a [GOP] colleague of mine literally make an antisemitic joke about my nose, and barely a peep from these organizations.”

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The wide-ranging discussion touches on some of the biggest stories today, including:

• The UAE lobby in DC and how they “literally lied to” Jacobs’ face, according to her.

• Why Democrats didn’t stop the war in Sudan under Biden’s presidency.

• Whether the US should continue to send so-called defensive weapons to Israel.

• How Democrats can earn back voter trust after greenlighting the genocide in Gaza.

• The plan for a permanent end to the war with Iran.

• Whether California House Democrat Eric Swalwell’s sexual misconduct was an “open secret” in Congress.

Paid subscribers can watch the full interview above to hear Mehdi press the congresswoman on why she hesitates to describe Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide. Free subscribers can watch a 3-minute preview. Consider becoming a paid subscriber to Zeteo to unlock the full interview.

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Now, in this must-watch interview, Mehdi speaks to Platner not just about his vision for a progressive “political revolution” in Washington DC but also about some of his controversies, including his past social media posts, his recent use of the R-word, and his tattoo that resembled a Nazi symbol – which he says he only learned about days before he had it covered up.

“I took my shirt off in front of my extended Jewish family the entire time,” Platner tells Mehdi. “I would not have done that if I thought I had some obviously recognizable white supremacist or Nazi symbol.”

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The two also discuss Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza and the US’s relationship with the Jewish state, which Platner plainly calls “shameful.”

“Down the road, if it is a relationship that is going to be repaired, we need to be looking at an entirely different government and an entirely different structure than what exists now,” Platner says.

In this wide-ranging interview, Platner talks to Mehdi about:

• The importance of turning the Democratic Party into an antiwar party.

• Why he supports universal background checks and red flag laws, but not a ban on assault weapons.

• The comparisons to John Fetterman (“That man is the bane of my existence”) and Zohran Mamdani (“I assume my gun safe looks a bit different than his”).

• Whether he would support Chuck Schumer to lead the Senate in 2027.

• Whether or not he is a socialist.

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Vermont Democratic Senator Peter Welch, a co-sponsor of the Justice for Hind Rajab Act, has been outspoken against Trump’s illegal war in Iran and the US’s complicity in Israel’s war crimes in Iran, Gaza, and Lebanon. “That is totally and utterly irresponsible for a leader of a country – in this case, Trump – to basically kowtow to the leader of another country when their agenda is totally different than what our needs are,” he tells Mehdi.

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He was also one of forty senators who voted yesterday to block weapons sales to Israel, and while the measure did not pass, he nevertheless described it as a “historic moment.” He explains, “When we started out on this… there were three of us, Bernie Sanders, Jeff Merkley, and me, who voted no. Now we have 40.”

As the Democratic Party distances itself from Israel, Welch, who has never taken AIPAC money, encourages his fellow lawmakers to do the same: “AIPAC is not advocating a position so much as its position is to advocate for whatever the Netanyahu government wants.”

But Israel and the war in Iran aren’t the only topics the two discussed. In this wide-ranging and challenging interview, Mehdi also presses the senator on:

• Chuck Schumer’s leadership

• Joe Biden’s legacy

• The House commission on presidential capacity

• And Trump’s threat to midterm elections.

Paid subscribers can watch the full conversation above, while free subscribers can access a five-minute preview. Consider upgrading your subscription to unlock all that Zeteo has to offer.

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