Leavitt Slams CNN For Cartel Member Interview; Praises Trump’s Border Policies
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt didn’t hold back Monday night as she blasted CNN for airing what she described as a “softball” interview with a member of Mexico’s notorious Sinaloa drug cartel.
The criticism came after CNN International correspondent Isobel Yeung aired a report over the weekend featuring a masked cartel operative. During the segment, Yeung pressed the man about the Trump administration’s classification of the Sinaloa Cartel as a terrorist organization and asked for his message to President Donald Trump.
“What’s your message to Donald Trump if he’s watching this?” Yeung asked.
Appearing on Hannity, Leavitt slammed the network for giving airtime to a violent cartel member.
“I was actually scrolling on Instagram when I came across this interview, and it stopped me in my tracks,” Leavitt said. “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.”
“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,” she continued. “But, again, this is just another reason why the trust in the legacy media is at an all-time low amongst the American public.”
Leavitt also confirmed the Trump administration’s plans to rebuild and reopen the infamous Alcatraz prison in California’s San Francisco Bay.
“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,” she said.
“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.”
President Trump echoed those sentiments in a Truth Social post Sunday night, writing,
“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, whose district includes Alcatraz Island, dismissed the idea.
“It is now a very popular national park and major tourist attraction. The President’s proposal is not a serious one,” she posted on X.
Alcatraz closed in 1963 and is now one of the country’s top tourist destinations, though the Bureau of Prisons still maintains 16 high-security facilities across the U.S., including those in Florence, Colorado, and Terre Haute, Indiana.
Trump’s call to reopen the island penitentiary comes amid legal controversies involving his administration’s immigration crackdown. Recent attempts to transfer gang-affiliated detainees to a maximum-security facility in El Salvador have faced judicial resistance, raising concerns about due process violations.
The president has also floated the idea of sending federal detainees to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) and has ordered the construction of a new detention complex at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with capacity for up to 30,000 foreign nationals described as “the worst criminal aliens.”