Former CIA operative Mike Baker made another appearance to address the swirling controversies surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein files in a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience. What followed was a masterclass in deflection that left many viewers questioning the true nature of Baker’s relationship with both Rogan and his former agency.
Baker earned the nickname “Rogan’s CIA handler” among online critics, and arrived in the studio just as public pressure mounted for the release of Epstein-related documents. His timing, as always, seemed remarkably convenient for damage control purposes.
When Rogan pressed Baker about potential intelligence agency involvement in the Epstein operation, the former operative delivered a carefully crafted response that managed to implicate everyone except the CIA.
“If I’m Chinese intel right and I just read the godd*mn entertainment news and you know there’s these rumors and allegations of you know high-level people flying off to his island I’m going to think that’s interesting,” Baker explained, deftly steering suspicion toward foreign adversaries.
The most striking moment came when Baker claimed that blackmail operations like Epstein’s would be “too unethical” for the CIA to orchestrate. “The agency tries, they blackmail is never really ever on the table as an option because it always leads to a problem,” he insisted, painting the agency as morally superior to their Russian and Israeli counterparts.
This assertion rings particularly hollow given the CIA’s documented history of domestic surveillance programs, human experimentation through MK Ultra, and various covert operations that violated both domestic and international law.
And if anyone still believes there’s a moral line the U.S. government won’t cross, they need only look at the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. It was a government-sanctioned public health study that knowingly let hundreds of African American men suffer and die from a treatable disease, all in the name of medical research.
For forty years, these men were lied to, denied treatment, and used as test subjects without their knowledge or consent. So when someone like Baker insists that blackmail would be “too unethical” for the CIA, it doesn’t just sound naïve—it insults decades of documented abuse, manipulation, and betrayal.
The idea that an organization with such a checkered past would draw the line at compromising powerful individuals through sexual blackmail strains credibility.
Baker’s performance grew more contradictory as the conversation progressed. He simultaneously hyped the importance of the Epstein files while downplaying their significance, suggesting that names on any list “doesn’t necessarily mean there’s nefarious activity” while also acknowledging that “if they’re in the file, right” there might be connections to illegal activities.
Perhaps most tellingly, Baker seemed eager for the files to be released, suggesting this confidence stems from knowing that the documents won’t implicate his former employer. “Just release the goddamn things,” he declared, implying that whatever emerges will only scratch the surface of the true operation.
Throughout the discussion, Rogan failed to challenge Baker’s obvious contradictions or press him on the numerous documented cases of CIA overreach. Instead, he nodded along as his guest methodically redirected blame toward foreign intelligence services while absolving American agencies of any wrongdoing.
