YouSaid · the spoken record

Jason Rezaian

lines on the record: 76
first: 2019-05-06
most recent: 2019-05-06
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“What we do is one of the pillars of a strong democracy. I think everybody understands that. And if they don't... They don't really understand how democracy works.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, you know, the fallout from Jamal's murder was driven by outrage in the media. And I think that Congress really picked up on that and really understands that our relationship with Saudi Arabia needs to have A long hard look in the mirror and some shifts. Unfortunately, the president and his entire national security and diplomatic corps have essentially exonerated the Saudi regime of any wrongdoing. And I think in doing that, they've greenlit Frankly, the murder of journalists in other parts of the world. And I don't think it's any coincidence that we're seeing a rise in the number of jailings, disappearances, murders, and other types of silencing of journalists all over the world.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Something that I'm still trying to process, but I feel incredibly fortunate to work for an organization that cares for its people and goes to bat for its people the way that mine does. We talk a lot about Marty Barron. He's an incredible editor. Fred Ryan, our publisher, is a name that not everybody knows, but is really a superstar and one of the most important people, I think, right now in holding up our ideals of press freedom and fighting for them. We don't think about it very much, but I worry that our rights of expression are kind of contracting. And you worry about a lot if you start to lose them.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think journalism, the journalism that is coming out right now is as good as it's ever been. We have great journalism out in the world, but the state of journalism, both in terms of the risks that we face to do this work. And the resources that are available for people who want to do it, we're in pretty dire straits. And I think for me, being in Washington. Having Jamal murdered in the way that he was, and that was somebody that I was just getting to know. You mentioned that we worked at the same section of the paper. It's a tiny little section. We're just a handful of people. And to see the way that the posts sprang into action. After his disappearance, and knowing that so much of that was informed by their experience of dealing with my disappearance Was”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Know, I feel like I have a ton to be thankful for that doesn't make any of it go away, having that sort of attitude makes it a little bit easier to deal with.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I would say that I'm 93% of the way there and that I don't think that I'll ever get that 7% back. There are little things that have changed in my brain chemistry that I can't really explain, but I know that I'm a little bit different. I have a hard time going to new places without very clear understanding of where I'm going to be, who's going to meet me there, what I'm going to do. I was a very intrepid person. You don't pick up and move to Iran as a foreign correspondent if you aren't. But I can't imagine making that kind of move now. Everything is much more deliberate than it had been in the past. But finally, I think I recognize the sort of dialogue in my own head as me rather than some other guy.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I was talking to John Kerry about it, and he said, well, that was some crazy shit. Argo's got nothing on this. Exactly what he said.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, you know, I was irate and scared. And where were they? Where did they go? Turned out that they were locked in a room in the airport, had their telephones taken from them. And the Revolutionary Guard were trying to kind of hustle me on the plane and get me to take off without them. And what they didn't know was that the plane was not going to take off without everybody Was about 9 30 at night on Saturday. We didn't end up taking off until 4 o'clock the next day. I'll let you guys read the book. The last chapter is very hair raising. Every time I start talking about it, my blood pressure goes up. But it was a very incredible experience This is a podcast, so we can.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“There's supposed to be three of you, but there's only one. And I thought he was referring to other Americans that were going to be released with me. And he said, no, no, no, your mother and your wife, they're leaving. They're going with you. And I said, no, no, they're not, you know, my wife's not part of this. They explained to me that she has to do the whole judicial thing here and that they would let her out soon and all that. And he shook his head and he said, Jason, I've been involved in these negotiations for 14 months. Your wife has been a part of this since the very beginning. We specifically wrote that spouses would be included and your wife is the only spouse.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And a few minutes later, a big bald man in a very nice suit walked in the room. I'd never seen this guy before. And he introduced himself. He said, I'm the Swiss ambassador. And I had no way of checking this information. And the Swiss are the protecting U.S. powers in Iran. So after a year and a half of being subjected to Iranian laws as if I was an Iranian, this is the first time I'm being treated as an American. My first consular visit. And he said to me”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It was, you know, there was a lot of elation, but the fear was they were telling me that my wife would not be allowed to leave the country with me, that she still had an open case against her and that she wasn't included in the swap because she wasn't an American citizen. And I had no way of disproving that. So they took me to the airport They allowed my mom and Yagi to come and say goodbye. And I made my mom promise that she wasn't going to leave until Yegi left. And then they took them out of the room.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, exactly. They finally on the 16th that morning, it was a Saturday they came and they said, today's the day. And there was a whole series of hoops that I had to jump through. I had to do an exit interview with state television. There was never aired.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, after a while, you just kind of get to this point where it's like, you know. What do I have to lose? Very little. They came, and I'll never forget that my mom and Yagi were so kind of in their faces. Like, why should we believe anything that you said, everything that you said has been a lie all the way through? But it was clear that they were starting to do damage control, that they were hoping to influence how we would respond when we were out in public. We were told.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, so about a week, week and a half before I was released, the interrogator and his boss came and told me that I was to be released. And they kind of gave me some details. You're going to be traded for other Iranians who are being held in America, along with some other Americans being held here. And I'd heard things like this before. In the 530 something days leading up to it, I'd been told that I would be released within a matter of hours. I'd been told that I'd spend the rest of my life in prison. I'd been told that I'd be hung. I mean, you know, you become a little bit jaded and cynical. But I said to them, I said, if any of this is true, my mom and my wife will be visiting me tomorrow. There was a scheduled visit. You'll come to that meeting and you're going to tell them exactly what you just told me here. And I don't know what made me think I was in a position.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Discouraged and just scared because I knew that the only thing left was the implementation day of the nuclear deal, which was going to be initially January 1st, but it got pushed back because there were different... Minor details being shifted around. Ultimately, it was January 16th. And I thought to myself, if it doesn't happen then, I could be here for a very long time.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Nobody knew about that the president had decided, President and Secretary Kerry had kind of come up with about four months into my imprisonment. And actually, my interrogator told me about this. I just didn't believe him.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I mean, I spoke with one of Secretary Kerry's top aides a couple of weeks ago, and he just asked me, he said, were you pretty pissed off at us at that time? I said, yeah, I was really pissed off. I'm not anymore because I've reported the hell out of this story. And I know about as well as anybody what did and didn't happen”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Not so much that, more than once the deal is done. In that grand moment of concessions on both sides, pouring concrete into the nuclear reactors in exchange for the lifting of sanctions and everything else, if prisoners aren't involved, when will they be involved? And I think that that was a concern that a lot of people had. And when the deal was signed in July 2015, and I wasn't released, and not only was I not released, the very next day I was back in court was a sign. It was a message being sent to Washington.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh, yeah, I mean, this part of my reporting for years. I mean, I knew who this guy was. I worried not so much that they would execute me, but that I would be given a death sentence and that that would make negotiating for my release more complicated. I also worried that If this deal over the nuclear program came to fruition and I was still in prison and had a sentence, that it would be very difficult to imagine getting me out just like I explained about people who are in prison there right now. So there was a lot of worried.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Neither is good. No. He's signed the execution orders of over 600 people. And a lot of those have been carried out. Iran Executes more people per capita than any other country”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Combination of reasons. First of all, the judge that I was assigned to is the same judge who oversees every one of these cases of dual nationals. His nickname, he's got two nicknames, the hanging judge and the judge of death.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think that there's a New Yorker profile of Bolton out right now that says that the Bolton's biggest fear is that the Supreme Leader of Iran sends a letter to Trump. He loves those letters. Loves the letters.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think that if we take a close look at The top foreign policy leadership of this administration. You take the president, you take the State Department under Mike Pompeo, and John Bolton as national security advisor, I think each one of them has a slightly different plan in their mind. And I think that Ambassador Bolton would like to see a very violent version of regime change if necessary. I think Secretary Pompeo thinks that sanctions will bring the Iranian regime to their knees and they'll fade off into the sunset, and I think President Trump plans on flying to Tehran. He's just waiting for an invitation to come sit down and have a cheeseburger and sign a deal.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The Trump administration talks about their maximum pressure campaign on Iran. Unfortunately, it seems to me that those Americans being held in prison are more valuable to this administration in prison than they are free.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think that they got me arrested and they got me out. I mean, if there was no negotiation going on, there would have been no reason to take me in the first place. At the same time, the fact that I was arrested without an active negotiation process, I would have not been released. And we can look at it right now. There's six Americans sitting in prison in Iran. There are no negotiations going on right now. And I've written about this fairly extensively because I feel responsibility to those people that are still being held there. But I worry that since the current administration pull out of the nuclear ordeal, there's not a lot of opportunity and there's not... Politically”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“2015, he spent 200 days away from home. I think he flew to Washington from San Francisco 20 times back and forth that year.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They were doing everything. They were doing everything, but we couldn't see that. Yaggy couldn't see that on television and The Washington Post was not very... Vocal about their efforts wisely. But as you know, I mean, they were spending a lot of time at the White House and the State Department doing everything they could to figure this out.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“After she was released, They allowed her to come and visit me. Once a week And then at one point, those visits were cut because I tried to smuggle a letter out to my mom and my brother, trying to get him to do more.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But I did have to fake not crying because it was I think about it now as probably the best moment in my life because I had been so concerned and worried and Nervous about where she was, what conditions she would be in. How she would have felt about me at that point. And she was brought into the room, blindfolded. They took off her blindfold, and there we were. We had four minutes together She was. But also horrified to see this kind of shadow version of me. Not only was I thin, I was very pale because I hadn't been outside much. I think my hair was... Beard and hair were pretty, you know. I wasn't clean. But it was the first sort of injection of hope. And I realized then that I had to look for those injections, I hope, whenever I could find them.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I was the 35th day, so five weeks, is that right? Yeah, five weeks into it, they told me after an interrogation session that you're going to see your wife. I said, when? They said, right now. And then they said, well, you got to let me prepare. You're going in this room and you're going to see your wife and don't cry.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Right, exactly. And I think that they also didn't want to see the image of a menacing Iran diminished in America, right? You know, they like the enmity that they have and they want to keep it intact.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The only thing that they can all agree on is that they want to keep something called the Islamic Republic intact and hold on to the power that they have. Everything else is kind of up for grabs internally. And I think that there are huge disparities in what different factions see as the best way that they can do it. And it's a pretty nasty internal politics. I mean, you know, I don't know about Chicago. It's not that nasty. I'm starting to know a little bit about Washington, but these guys are really nasty.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think that they wanted me to confess not because they thought that I did anything wrong, but they wanted to be able to make this sort of audacious, massive public display at a time when the Nuclear Negotiations were becoming so close to finalized, the people that had taken me were the domestic opponents of that deal. They wanted to do whatever they could to scuttle it before it ever happened. So having American newspaper correspondent coming on television and saying, yeah, you know what I'm the CIA spy and I'm the architect of the sanctions on your country and I'm Obama's right-hand man. That's what they wanted me to do. And it just, you know, Wasn't what I was going to do”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“100% You know, and I knew that. So you end up learning how to make multiple sets of mental books. And I developed a mantra over time, whatever they tell you to do, do the opposite. If they tell you that it's bad for you that your newspaper and your family are making a lot of noise out in public probably means that this is the best thing that people can do. So, you know, I got very good at acting. I mean, I could turn on and off the tears like nobody's business. I can't do that now. You know, you come up with these defense mechanisms to get through a situation. And I think I did as good a job as I can imagine that I would have been able to do.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I spent more time with him during that year and a half than I did with anybody else. For those who know me, I build relationships with people. I mean, that's what I do. And I didn't see any other option. I needed to figure out what made this guy tick so that maybe I could glean something from him from time to time”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I was desperate to know, and my interrogators would say, you know, we reported that you died in a car accident. And nobody's doing anything. The Washington Post doesn't care because you didn't really work for the Washington Post. Your mother was upset for a few days, but she's moved on with her life.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I had no idea about what was going on with her for the first 35 days. And I think to me that was the ultimate torture. Of the situation, and they do all of this on purpose. They know exactly what they're doing. And in the meantime, they're not giving you any information. They're saying your wife is cooperating. She's telling us everything that you've been doing. Other days they're telling you your wife has been released or we don't know where she is. I mean, it's all just designed to make you. Go”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I lost 50 pounds in 40 something days. And, you know, we are still bemoaning the fact that I've lost my prison body. We're trying to get it back for summer 2000. There are easier ways.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It kicks in immediately. You Start to lose track of time, days. Fortunately, I was able to find a pebble and started carving numbers in the wall, rows of four with a diagonal line, just like you imagine. I mean, that's what people do. It's what hundreds of people had done before me in the same cell. I could see the numbers piling up. And you know, you don't have access to anything People ask me about it. They say, well, did you have TV or books or anything like that? I said, Well, not in solitary. The essence of solitary To disjoint you from reality. And also they were frankly starving me. I was probably living on 500 or 600 calories a day, which is 50.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“49 days My wife spent 72 days in solitary fighting. And then she was released conditionally and was essentially under house arrest until I was released. But yeah, it was an incredibly jarring experience.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The cell was about four and a half by eight and a half And I could lie down in one direction and not the other. I'm not that tall, but yeah, it was tiny The lights were on 24 hours a day”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And he said to me, he said, He's obviously scared. He's not cooperating. But give him a month, he'll start talking. And I'm thinking to myself, a month? There's no way I'm going to be here more than two or three hours. And then they processed me, took my mug shots, took my clothes, gave me some very nondescript blue pajamas. And took me to A little cell that was about half the size of the stage that you and I are on right now.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm station chief. Yeah. It was, you know, my Farsi's pretty good, but doing it under duress, blindfolded with handcuffs on, I was stammering quite a bit, but I just kept saying, you know, you're making a mistake. I'm a journalist. I'm just a journalist. And he said to me, and this should have been the first cue, just a journalist has no value for me. I mean, this was the first tip that I was a part of this long line of American hostages of the Iranian regime. So that was the beginning of it. They said if you just admit to everything that you've done right now, you'll go home and you'll board that flight to the United States of America, but you'll be working for us. I was just thinking to myself, this is the craziest, dumbest sounding stuff of my life.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, we were told that we weren't allowed to talk. Be quiet. Everything will become clear when you arrive. We were separated immediately I was taken into a large room. I knew it was large because I could hear other people breathing and there was a lot of milling around. And I'm still behind a blindfold with handcuffs on. And very quickly, this voice starts telling me that I'm the head of the CIA station in Tehran.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Together, handcuffed, blindfolded, and then taken to prison, which was fortunately only a couple miles from where we lived. Separated”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Into a courtyard where there's a fountain in front of the house, and our neighbors are there. It's a walk of shame, really. You realize in a country like Iran, this sort of thing happens sometimes. People don't get involved. They just know that you're being hauled off to an uncertain fate. We were put in a van with tinted windows in the back handcuffed and”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Thank you. Thank you So he and several other plain clothes agents forced their way into the elevator. They took us back up to the apartment, made us let them in. We went into the apartment. They separated us. They began ransacking the place more and more agents showed up pretty quickly. There was probably 20 of them. All of them had surgical masks on to hide their identities. They made us give up our new passwords to our accounts. They took our devices. They took our identity cards. And then they said it's time to go. And at this point, there's no explanation of what's going on, what we're being accused of, what's happening. They walk us out of the building.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Spend the evening with our in-laws, with my in laws, my mother in law was having a birthday party. And as we left the apartment, we went down in the elevator in our high rise to the garage. And as the garage door opened, there was man standing there with a gun pointed right at me. And he said my name. And for those of you who have not had a gun pointed at your face, it's a very jarring experience.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Correspondent for the Washington Post. Yeah, so you know, we were on a really nice rise. And that day, on the 22nd, I got a frantic phone call from my wife saying, you know, I've received this really strange email demanding money. And if they say, if I don't pay. They're going to expose me and you, and I don't know what's going on, but somebody's messing with us. I was out trying to cover a story and I made my way home. And by the time I got home, it was clear that our email and social media accounts had been compromised. Passwords had been changed. We've been locked out of those sites. So we contacted a friend of ours who helped us do IT and he was able to regain access and we thought secure our network. And we calmed down and we kind of thought about what we were going to do and we were supposed to”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So We were preparing to take a trip to the US. We'd been married for 15 months, and I did all of the paperwork to get a green card for Yagi. And her green card was ready I had just come back from several days of covering nuclear negotiations in Vienna, which at the time the negotiations were starting to reach a climax. And so this was a great moment in our lives, in our careers. We were two fifths of the English language media in Iran. My beat was expanding.”
2019-05-06 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 324 — Jason Rezaian · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source