News

‘As If I Was Going To North Korea’: British CNN Reporter Says She Was ‘Afraid’ To Travel To U.S.

"I literally prepared to go to America as if I was going to North Korea."

   DailyWire.com
‘As If I Was Going To North Korea’: British CNN Reporter Says She Was ‘Afraid’ To Travel To U.S.
Patrick McMullan via Getty Image

CNN’s chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour said this week that she prepared for a trip to the U.S. as if she were going to North Korea.

The British-Iranian journalist, 67, said she was “afraid” to travel to the land of the free to give an address at Harvard University last month.

“I have to tell you, when I went to Harvard to give this speech, and it was just a few days ago last week, I must say, I was afraid,” Amanpour said Wednesday on her podcast “The Ex Files,” which she hosts with her ex-husband, James Rubin, a former State Department official.

 

“I’m a foreigner, I don’t have a green card, I’m not an American citizen, I’m fairly prominent, and I literally prepared to go to America as if I was going to North Korea,” she said.

Amanpour has previously reported from war zones, including during the Gulf and Bosnian wars.

“I took a burner phone, Jamie, imagine that,” Amanpour told her ex-husband during the podcast.

She said she did not take her regular cell phone or her iPad, and she had “nothing on the burner phone except a few numbers” including those for her assistant, her ex-husband, her son, and a CNN lawyer.

Gift Dad an All Access Membership. Use code DAD40 at checkout to save 40%!

“I was really afraid. I’d even talked to the CNN security person, because I’ve heard that many, including British citizens, are being stopped at the border and questioned for hours and hours and hours,” Amanpour said.

However, she admitted she encountered no such issues on her trip.

“So, huge sigh of relief I breathed, but wow, can you imagine if I’m afraid, what do others think?” she said.

Amanpour previously sparked controversy when she compared the Trump administration to Nazis in 2020.

“This week, 82 years ago, Kristallnacht happened,” she said at the beginning of her CNN show days after the 2020 presidential election. Kristallnacht or the “Night of Broken Glass” was a 1938 Nazi attack on Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues.

“It was the Nazis’ warning shot across the bow of our human civilization that led to genocide against a whole identity, and in that tower of burning books, it led to an attack on fact, knowledge, history and truth,” Amanpour continued. “After four years of a modern-day assault on those same values by Donald Trump, the Biden-Harris team pledges a return to norms, including the truth.”

Jewish advocacy groups criticized Amanpour’s comments, one asking her to “stop using the horrors of the Holocaust to justify an agenda.”

Create a free account to join the conversation!

Already have an account?

Log in

Got a tip worth investigating?

Your information could be the missing piece to an important story. Submit your tip today and make a difference.

Submit Tip
Download Daily Wire Plus

Don't miss anything

Download our App

Stay up-to-date on the latest
news, podcasts, and more.

Download on the app storeGet it on Google Play
The Daily Wire   >  Read   >  ‘As If I Was Going To North Korea’: British CNN Reporter Says She Was ‘Afraid’ To Travel To U.S.
Daily Wire Plus
Facts and headlines on the go.
Download the Daily Wire app.
Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play
Download App QR CodeScan the QR Code to Download
FacebookXInstagramYouTubeRSS
Daily Wire PlusFacts and headlines on the go.
Download the Daily Wire app.
Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play
© Copyright 2025, The Daily Wire LLC  | Terms | Privacy
Podcast compliance badge