CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins seemingly clapped back at President Donald Trump for attacking her at the rescheduled White House Correspondents Dinner.
Collins, 34, shared an empowering quote from former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt via her Instagram Story on Saturday, July 25, which read, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
Her response came less than 24 hours after Trump, 80, publicly mocked her during his inflammatory remarks at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington, D.C., on Friday, July 24.
Trump set up his joke by referencing that Collins was being honored at the ceremony for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage Under Deadline Pressure for her coverage of his contentious Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“I want to personally congratulate CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on receiving her award. It was all about me. It’s a fake — she shouldn’t get the award, it was a fake,” he insisted. “But I don’t mind, I said, ‘Kaitlan, congratulations.’ But it was fake, there’s no question about it.”
Trump then compared Collins to trans actress and activist Dylan Mulvaney, whose 2023 advertising campaign with Bud Light was condemned by right-wing politicians and influencers. The president’s remarks have been widely condemned as transphobic.
“[Collins is] a young, attractive woman. She never smiles,” Trump said. “I said, ‘Kaitlan, do you ever smile? Smile. You have a nice position, you’re at CNN fake news, you should be a happy person. So smile, Kaitlan, just smile.”
He then quipped, “I thought Kaitlan had really made it big with a major new sponsorship, but then I informed her that it wasn’t her on the Bud Light can, it was Dylan Mulvaney.”
On Saturday, Mulvaney, 29, seemingly responded to the outrage over Trump’s tirade by re-sharing Collins’ Eleanor Roosevelt quote via her own Instagram Story.
For her part, Collins also posted a strong statement of support from her employers at CNN.
“Kaitlan Collins is an exceptional, trusted journalist being honored tonight for her depth of knowledge and the context she provides to audiences all over the world,” the network said. “She reports every day from the White House and the field with real strength and tenacity and skillfully brings that reporting to the anchor chair and CNN platforms every day. We stand by her to the fullest extent.”
Friday’s White House Correspondents Dinner was rescheduled and moved to the Waldorf Astoria hotel after the original ceremony was interrupted by gunfire outside the main ballroom of the Washington Hilton on April 25. Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and other administration officials were rushed out of the ballroom as a safety precaution.
Shooting suspect Cole Tomas Allen was captured alive by the Secret Service and later charged with one count of attempting to assassinate the President of the United States, transportation of a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce with intent to commit a felony, and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, per the Justice Department.
Allen, 31, pleaded not guilty to the federal charges during a hearing in Washington D.C. on May 11.
