President Donald Trump once again criticized CNN’s chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins during an Oval Office press conference on Wednesday, June 3.
Trump, 79, called CNN “a very corrupt organization” before taking aim at Collins, 34, who was in attendance for the press briefing.
Pointing to Collins, he described the journalist as “a corrupt reporter standing right there, never smiles.”
“She’s a young beautiful woman. Never smiles. I never see a smile off her face,” he continued to disparage Collins. “I see her standing there with hatred in her eyes, like she has hatred, because we had borders, because we have a strong military, because we cut our taxes, because we do things that everybody wanted, and then we win our election in a massive landslide.”
Later, Trump criticized Collins again as she questioned him over the Department of Justice reportedly scrapping a proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.
Trump didn’t give a clear answer on whether the fund is going ahead but described it as a “beautiful thing” because “people like you have abused our people so badly. The fake news, like CNN, like The New York Times, and like others, have abused our people, have abused our people so badly.”
When Collins attempted to interject, Trump told her to “be quiet.”
He continued, “And you should be ashamed of yourself. You used to be a conservative. She was a conservative from Alabama, can you believe it?”
“But in particular, CNN does such false reporting, but now they have new ownership, so maybe it’ll straighten out, but I doubt it. It’s hard to straighten garbage out,” he added, referring to the proposed acquisition of CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance.
In a statement to Deadline on Wednesday, CNN said, “Kaitlan Collins is an exceptional journalist, reporting every day from the White House and the field with real depth and tenacity. She skillfully brings that reporting to the anchor chair and CNN platforms every day, which audiences around the world know they can trust.”
Trump previously singled out Collins in an Oval Office press briefing in February, telling her, “She’s a young woman … I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile. I’ve known you for 10 years. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a smile on your face.”
At the time, Collins was quizzing Trump about the victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Collins addressed Trump’s remarks on the Tuesday, June 2, episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen.
“When he told me I should smile more when I was asking him about sexual assault victims, in that moment, I was thinking, ‘This is not going to be received well,’” she said. “I knew how other people would respond.”
She added, “I truly think, as a reporter, you shouldn’t make it about yourself. It’s about the president, about the person you’re questioning. But we’re people too.”
