President Trump repeatedly criticized CNN’s Kaitlan Collins in the Oval Office Wednesday, accusing her of “false reporting” and “never” smiling.
Collins asked Trump about the status of the Justice Department’s $1.776 “anti-weaponization fund” following a Republican revolt on Capitol Hill, which set the president off.
“I thought that was the greatest thing,” Trump said of potential payouts for victims of lawfare, “because people like you have abused our people so badly.”
When Collins attempted to interject, the president shut her down.
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“Be quiet … you should be ashamed of yourself. You used to be a conservative,” Trump told the reporter. “She used to be a conservative from Alabama. Can you believe it? But CNN, in particular CNN, does such false reporting, but now they have new ownership, so maybe it’ll straighten it out. I doubt it. It’s hard to straighten garbage out.”
Collins didn’t respond to Trump’s criticisms aside from noting that she’s “still from Alabama.”
Earlier, the president called CNN “a very corrupt organization, with a corrupt reporter [Collins] standing right there, never smiles.”
“Young, beautiful woman, never smiles,” Trump said of Collins. “I never see a smile on her face.”
“I see her standing with such hatred in her eyes.”
