‘Don’t talk to me’: A look at Trump’s previous clashes with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins
Collins, who will moderate a town hall with Trump on Wednesday, was known for getting under the former president’s skin during his time in office.
Former President Donald Trump will join a CNN town hall in New Hampshire on Wednesday, his first appearance on the network since his 2016 presidential campaign.
The current GOP 2024 presidential frontrunner will take questions live from Republican and undecided New Hampshire voters, CNN announced last week. CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins is moderating the event, which will be at 8 p.m.
Collins, the network’s former chief White House correspondent, was known for getting under the former president’s skin during his time in office. Trump publicly clashed with Collins several times, both in the briefing room and on Twitter, often after the reporter challenged him for dodging questions or making false statements.
Here are some of those more memorable moments:
When Collins was banned from a Rose Garden press conference
In 2018, Collins was barred from attending a press conference in the Rose Garden after asking questions about Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, and Russian President Vladimir Putin while she was on duty as the pool reporter.
At a photo-op in the Oval Office, Collins called out several questions to Trump as White House staffers ushered the press out of the room. Later, Collins said White House communications director Bill Shine and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called her into Shine’s office and told her she could not attend the upcoming press conference because her questions had been inappropriate.
The incident sparked outrage from Collins’ fellow White House reporters and her own network, which issued a statement calling the move “retaliatory in nature and not indicative of an open and free press.”
‘A very nice question so beautifully asked’
Trump mocked Collins at a 2019 press conference when she pressed him on statements he had made about his administration’s plans for a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border amid the partial government shutdown caused by a standoff between lawmakers and the White House over funding for the wall.
“You ran your campaign promising supporters that Mexico is going to pay for the wall,” Collins began before Trump interrupted her. “Oh here we go again,” he said.
“And that wall was going to be made of concrete,” Collins continued. “You just said earlier that the wall could be made of steel and right now our government is shut down over a demand from your administration that the American taxpayer pay for the wall. So how can you say that you are not failing on that promise to your supporters?”
“A very nice question so beautifully asked, even though I just answered it,” Trump replied.
“I just told you that we just made a trade deal. We will take in billions and billions of dollars, far more than the cost of the wall,” Trump said.
Collins attempted to ask a follow-up question about that trade deal, but Trump had already moved on to a question from another reporter.
‘CNN is fake news. Don’t talk to me.’
After CNN reported on North Korean President Kim Jong Un’s health in 2020, Trump attacked the network and Collins during a press conference for what he said he believed was incorrect reporting.
Collins asked Trump if he had been in contact with North Korea, to which he replied, “I don’t want to say. I won’t say that. We have a good relationship with North Korea — as good as you can have. I mean, we have a good relationship with North Korea. I have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un and I hope he’s OK.”
But when Collins attempted to ask a follow up, he shot her down and called CNN “fake news.”
“No, that’s enough,” Trump said. “The problem is, you don’t write the truth.”
“No, not CNN please,” he added when Collins continued to press him. “I told you, CNN is fake news. Don’t talk to me.”
When Trump’s administration tried to make Collins move to the back of the briefing room
Shortly after clashing over questions on North Korea, Trump’s staff tried to order Collins to move from her front-row seat in the White House briefing room, defying the seating assignments managed by the White House Correspondents’ Association, which White House officials had agreed to.
Collins refused and the press conference went ahead, but Trump kept the briefing short and took no questions.
When Trump walked out of a press conference after a question from Collins
Trump abruptly ended a press conference in July 2020 after Collins tried to ask him questions about a video he retweeted that included false information about Covid-19.
“The woman that you said is a ‘great doctor’ in that video that you retweeted last night said that masks don’t work and there’s a cure for COVID-19, both of which experts say is not true,” Collins said during a press briefing with the president. “She’s also made videos saying that doctors make medicine using DNA from aliens and that they’re trying to create a vaccine to make you immune from becoming religious. So, what’s the logic in retweeting that?”
“She was on air with many other doctors. And they were big fans of hydroxychloroquine,” Trump replied. “And I thought she was very impressive in the sense that where she came — I don’t know which country she comes from — but she’s said that she’s had tremendous success with hundreds of different patients. And I thought her voice was an important voice, but I know nothing about her.”
When Collins pressed Trump, he abruptly ended the press conference and quickly walked out.