The president kept his cool while Medea Benjamin shouted about Guantanamo Bay. | REUTERS DOD: Heckler pretended to be press

The woman who heckled President Barack Obama during his speech at the National Defense University on Thursday gained access to the closed event by saying she was a member of the press, the university said.

Medea Benjamin, the leader of the human rights activist group Code Pink, stood and shouted several times as the president gave his national security speech focused on drone use and closing down the Guantanamo detention center.


Officials at the university, located at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C., later said Benjamin was able to get into the invite-only speech by saying she was with the news media. It was unclear which media outlet she told them she was with.

“The individual who continued to attempt to interrupt the president’s speech at the National Defense University was given access via the list of media attendees expected,” the university said in a statement.

“When it was apparent this individual would not be deterred by the president’s effort to address her concerns, officials from the National Defense University staff and base police asked her to leave and escorted her from the venue.”

She was questioned by Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall police, officials said.

Obama’s speech was not open to the public. The guest list was “limited to invited guests from the National Defense University faculty, staff, and student body, along with those invited by the White House,” NDU said.

Obama kept his cool as Benjamin, a well-known activist in the Capitol, yelled: “Abide by the rule of law — you’re a constitutional lawyer!” Code Pink strongly opposes the U.S. use of drones and earlier this year disrupted the confirmation hearing of CIA Director John Brennan so many times that California Sen. Dianne Feinstein cleared the room.

A photographer who waited in line near Benjamin told POLITICO that Benjamin was seen wearing a bright green press pass with the name “Susan Benjamin” written on it.