CNN faced widespread mockery on social media over the weekend after interviewing a masked Sinaloa Cartel gangster who, rather than criticizing President Trump’s terrorist designation as seemingly expected, expressed “respect” for the commander-in-chief for “looking out for his people.”
The interview, aired Saturday, featured CNN correspondent Isobel Yeung questioning a heavily disguised cartel member in an undisclosed hideout in Mexico, according to the New York Post.
“According to the Trump administration, you are a terrorist. … What do you make of that?” Yeung asked.
Trump designated the Mexico-based Sinaloa Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in a January 20 executive order, with the State Department writing that the cartel is “one of the largest producers and traffickers of fentanyl and other illicit drugs to the United States.”
The masked gangster, wearing sunglasses and latex gloves to conceal his identity, initially responded, “Well, the situation is ugly, but we have to eat.”
When asked what he would say directly to Trump, the cartel member didn’t take the bait.
“My respect. According to him, he’s looking out for his people,” the gangster stated, adding, “But the problem is the consumers are in the United States. If there weren’t any consumers, we would stop.”
CNN is now sitting down with foreign terrorist drug traffickers to ask how they feel about Trump’s policies and being labeled terrorists. UNREAL. pic.twitter.com/xNlMTtPZg7
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 4, 2025
Social media erupted with mockery of CNN’s apparent attempt to elicit anti-Trump commentary from a member of a violent drug trafficking organization.
“CNN tried to create a scandal and accidentally gave Trump a campaign ad. You can’t script this kind of desperation,” one user remarked.
“Unbelievably, CNN gives Sinaloa cartel member a chance to throw a pity party about being labeled a terrorist, but the cartel member tells them President Trump is just rightly ‘looking after his people,'” another social media user pointed out.
Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) suggested, “Let them [CNN] live under the rule of foreign terrorist drug traffickers for a few months. And then tell us how they feel.”
A February 20 State Department fact sheet on the terrorist designation for the cartel writes that it uses “violence to murder, kidnap, and intimidate civilians, government officials, and journalists.”
A Foreign Terrorist Organization classification expands federal authorities’ ability to combat these criminal enterprises through financial sanctions, enhanced prosecutions, and immigration restrictions.
