Leavitt Slams CNN For Cartel Member Interview; Praises Trump’s Border Policies
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed CNN for an interview with a Mexican drug gang member that she described as a “softball” interview.
Over the weekend, CNN International Correspondent Isobel Yeung conducted an in-depth story on the brutality and consequences of the drug trade in Mexico, which featured an interview with a masked Sinaloa Cartel member.
Yeung questioned the man about being classified as a terrorist by President Donald Trump and pushed him about the violence and fear that his group instills.
“What’s your message to Donald Trump if he’s watching this?” Yeung asked the man, referring to the designation.
On Monday night’s edition of Fox News Channel’s Hannity, Leavitt joined conservatives and many others for slamming CNN for the “despicable” interview.
“Karoline, what did you and the administration make of the Sinaloa cartel gang member interviewed on CNN? Why would they care what he thinks?” host Sean Hannity asked.
“Well, it was fascinating to me, Sean. I was actually scrolling on Instagram when I came across this interview and it stopped me in my tracks, not just because they sat down with a member of a Mexican cartel that is now designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States government, but because of the nature of the questions of this notorious foreign terrorist. It — it was a softball interview, giving a platform to a notorious drug cartel that has killed American citizens. I thought it was quite despicable. But, again, this is just another reason why the — the trust in the legacy media is at an all-time low amongst the American public,” Leavitt shot back.
Leavitt also discussed Trump’s announcement that his administration will rebuild and expand Alcatraz, an infamous old prison on a remote California island near San Francisco that has been abandoned for more than 60 years.
“I can confirm for you that the White House has already administered calls with the Bureau of Prisons, our counterparts at the Department of Justice, and our counterparts at the Department of Interior,” Leavitt confirmed.
“Bureau of Prisons has already confirmed they are assessing next steps to reopen this notorious prison … President Trump is leaving no stone unturned to restore law and order to our country,” Leavitt added.
WATCH:
In a post on his Truth Social site Sunday evening, Trump wrote that, “For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering. When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat whose district contains the island, questioned the possibility of restoring the jail after so many years.
“It is now a very popular national park and major tourist attraction. The President’s proposal is not a serious one,” she wrote on X.
The island functions as a time warp to a bygone period of corrections. The Bureau of Prisons presently operates 16 penitentiaries with the same high-security roles as Alcatraz, including a maximum-security institution in Florence, Colorado, and the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, home of the federal death chamber.
The ruling comes as Trump has clashed with the courts over his attempts to transfer alleged gang members to a maximum-security jail in El Salvador without due process.
Trump has also broached the legally questionable concept of transferring certain federal US detainees to the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.
Trump has also ordered the establishment of a detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to house up to 30,000 of what he calls the “worst criminal aliens.”
