The Curious Rise of CIA's Andrew Bustamante (FULL STORY)
Julian Dorey · 12 Aug 2024 · 1h 1m
Host: Joey Def, Julian Dorey
This is a solo monologue from Julian Dorey walking through the origin story of Andrew Bustamante, the self-described ex-CIA officer who has become a fixture across the podcast circuit. Dorey traces the chain of connections: how Matt Cox, a former mortgage fraudster turned content creator, used Bustamante as a research source for a book on a prisoner named Frank Amodeo, then pushed Danny Jones to book him on the Concrete podcast, which eventually led to Dorey himself hosting Bustamante and turning his clips into viral hits, which in turn led to Lex Fridman's episode and subsequent appearances everywhere. Dorey uses this history to push back on the recurring accusation that Bustamante is a government plant, arguing the trajectory was organic rather than orchestrated, while also acknowledging he still jokingly doubts Bustamante is truly 'former' CIA. He recounts specific moments from their multiple recorded conversations, including an exchange where Bustamander seemed to hint that the agency does eliminate compromised assets, and reflects on where he agrees and disagrees with Bustamante's geopolitical predictions, particularly on Ukraine and Taiwan. The episode also touches on Bustamante's evolving views on Julian Assange, Jeffrey Epstein as a possible intelligence access agent, and his dismissive take on Diddy, alongside Dorey's broader defense of booking active and former federal agents on his show.
Ask this show a question Watch on YouTube
What comes up
Timestamps link into the episode on YouTube.
- Origin of Bustamante's podcast rise
- Matt Cox and Frank Amodeo backstory
- Danny Jones discovers Bustamante
- Dorey's early YouTube shorts strategy
- First Bustamante interview and viral clips
- Lex Fridman episode and wider fame
- The 'plant' accusation debate
- Disagreements over Snowden and surveillance
- Why Dorey books federal agents
- Bustamante's track record on Taiwan and Ukraine
- Assange, Epstein, and Diddy commentary
Said on this episode
Quoted from the auto-generated transcript, which mishears names and technical terms. podcite.com reports what a show said; it does not endorse or fact-check it.
“I looked at him and said, "You ready to be the biggest CIA spy in the world? And you know, probably like the most controversial, too." And he was like, "Yeah, man. Like I'm about it."”
“So Andy, Joey and I were having a debate last night about whether or not you murdered people for the CIA.”
“And Andy like immediately across from goes goes, "It's not murder." And I went, "Killing?" And he's like, "Yeah."”