CNN journalist mocked for saying she's ‘afraid' to travel to the US: ‘As if I was going to North Korea'
CNN's famed war correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, is being mocked for claiming she's terrified of traveling to the US — and even needs burner phones and other prep 'as if I was going to North Korea.'
The British-born journalist, who has covered war zones extensively throughout her career, revealed that she spoke to CNN security and carried a burner phone when she traveled to the US last month to give an address at Harvard University.
'I must say I was afraid. 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,' Amanpour said Wednesday on her 'The Ex Files' podcast, which she hosted with her ex-husband, James Rubin — a former State Department official.
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'I literally prepared to go to America as if I was going to North Korea,' Christiane Amanpour said.
Christiane Amanpour Presents: The Ex Files
'I took a burner phone, Jamie. Imagine that, James.'
The anchor, 67, noted she spoke with the lefty network's security team before setting off to the US after hearing stories of foreigners being stopped for 'hours and hours' in the wake of President Trump being elected.
'I even talked to the CNN security person because of this,' she said, saying that she's heard even 'British citizens are being stopped at the border and questioned for hours and hours and hours.'
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Amanpour — a renowned foreign correspondent who covered the Iraq, Persian Gulf and Bosnian wars — later acknowledged that her trip went off without a hitch.
'So, huge sigh of relief I breathed, but wow, can you imagine if I'm afraid, what do others think?' she said.
The backlash against her was swift on social media — with many mocking her travel fears given her extensive background in war zones.
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'Don't visit. We will survive,' one person wrote on X.
'CNN's Christiane Amanpour is free to remain wherever she feels safe. Feel afraid to travel to America, then don't come here. Simple,' another griped.
One user bluntly said: 'Then stay in England.'
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