White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized CNN this week for airing an interview with members of the Mexican cartel. During an appearance on Sean Hannity’s show, she expressed disapproval of the network’s decision to seek insights from individuals associated with the notorious Sinaloa Cartel, which was labeled a terrorist group at the beginning of Donald Trump’s second term.
“I found this quite despicable, and it underscores why trust in mainstream media has plummeted among Americans,” Leavitt remarked.
Officials from the government also took issue with CNN for supposedly conducting “softball interviews” with gang affiliates.
“It was intriguing, Sean. I stumbled across this interview while scrolling through Instagram,” she noted. “It wasn’t just their association with cartel members, who the U.S. has classified as a foreign terrorist organization, but also the nature of the discussion surrounding this infamous issue.”
“They were essentially giving a platform to a drug cartel, one responsible for the deaths of American citizens,” she added.
CNN recently aired an interview, conducted by correspondent Isober Yong, on May 2 with a member of the Sinaloa cartel, known for its fentanyl production. The cartel members stipulated that their identities and locations were kept secret in exchange for the interview.
In a segment shared on CNN’s website, the masked individual was asked about Trump’s categorization of the cartel as a terrorist entity. He responded in Spanish, “The situation is grim. But we have to eat.”
When asked if he had a message for the U.S. president, he simply stated, “My respect. He says he’s searching for his people, but the real issue is the consumers are in the United States.”
“Without consumers, we’ll stop,” the cartel member declared.
Later in the interview, Yong inquired whether he felt regret for his role in the violence. An anonymous member acknowledged feeling sorrow over the situation, saying, “Of course things are sad, but things are sad.”
