CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins has spoken about the remarks Donald Trump has made about her in recent months, after the president recently claimed she has “hatred in her eyes”.
Members of the press were gathered in the Oval Office on Wednesday (June 3) while Trump signed another executive order at the White House.
At one point, Trump was taking questions about his move to end the $1.776 billion anti-weaponisation fund, before turning his response into a broad attack on CNN — and then singling out Collins.
Trump said: “You know the good advantage to sitting here is we can get information that you wouldn’t get. But I said what we have and what we are going to be showing over the coming weeks and months, you’re not even going to believe. Some of you will believe it. Like CNN will believe it because they knew what was going on. They’re crooked as hell.”
He then focused on Collins, adding: “CNN’s a very corrupt organization, with a corrupt reporter standing right there, never smiles. She never… a young beautiful woman [who] never smiles. I never see a smile off her face. I see her standing there with hatred in her eyes.”
Trump went on to argue the alleged “hatred” was linked to policy decisions, saying it was because “we have borders, because we have a strong military, because we cut our taxes, because we do things that everybody wanted”.
The comment is the latest in a string of insults aimed at Collins. She was asked recently on Watch What Happens with Andy Cohen whether she could ever imagine a journalist responding to presidential attacks by telling the president “f*** you”.
Collins said: “Never say never I guess, but I truly think as a reporter you shouldn’t make it about yourself, it’s about the president, the person you’re questioning. But we are people too. When he told me I should smile more when I was asking him about sexual assault victims, in that moment I thought, ‘This is not going to be received well by people in terms of the line of questioning and what it’s about.'”
As Trump’s criticism of her has continued — including a separate incident in February when he again said she “never smiles” — CNN has publicly supported its reporter. In a statement to The New York Post, the network said Collins “is an exceptional journalist, reporting every day from the White House and the field with real depth and tenacity’.
“She skilfully brings that reporting to the anchor chair and CNN platforms every day, which audiences around the world know they can trust,” the outlet added.