John Kiriakou recounts the lie behind a prison assault

Cleared Hot's fast-starting excerpt centers on Kiriakou's account of provoking violence against another inmate.

Channel: Cleared Hot Podcast - Powered By BRCC Story of October 21, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 225,365 views a day, 8.8 times a normal first day on this channel (25,526).

John Kiriakou’s Wildest Story.

John Kiriakou recalls being summoned to a prison lieutenant's office because Jake Tapper had arrived to interview him. Back in the television room, another inmate treated that visit as evidence that he was cooperating with prison officials.

In Cleared Hot's excerpt, "John Kiriakou's Wildest Story.", the former CIA officer and author describes responding by inventing an insult. He told a different inmate that the man had used a slur against him.

"Of course he didn't. I just made it up," Kiriakou says.

According to Kiriakou's account, the resulting assault left the man in intensive care for about six weeks. He recounts warning the injured inmate not to mention his name again after he returned to the prison.

The Short drew an estimated 225,000 views in its first day, nearly nine times the channel's usual Shorts audience. Kiriakou is already a prominent guest in Cleared Hot's catalog: his full-length conversation, "The Cost of Telling the Truth | John Kiriakou | Ep. 446", is the channel's most-watched regular video.

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John Kiriakou recounts the lie behind a prison assault The full story on Trari: https://trari.com/en/story/clearedhotpodcast-14715/?from=kit

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The numbers

The excerpt's first-day views were far above Cleared Hot's usual Shorts start. Comments also came in much faster than usual.

the video's first day

usual first day here

25,526

this video

225,365

subscribers

229,000

▲ 2,000 in the last 7 days

total views

93,422,047

views per day

511,543

typical day: 746,854

the video

views

305,281

likes

7,302

comments

147

days online

2

subscribers: this channel and similar channels

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252,000

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245,000

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243,000

Cleared Hot Podcast - Pow…

229,000

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206,000

The Rest Is Politics: Lea…

201,000

As of October 21, 2026 · Data source: Trari Social News, Trari Traffic Trends and Ranking Platform, Google YouTube

Subscriber, view, like and comment counts are YouTube's. Rates, usual days, rankings, comparisons and categories are Trari's own calculations.