CNN‘s Kaitlan Collins was “not surprised” that U.S. President Donald Trump insulted her during his speech at Friday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
During an appearance on “The Daily Show” on Monday, Collins — who serves as CNN’s chief White House correspondent — debriefed the event with Jon Stewart.
“In the room, I was not surprised when he insulted me. That happens pretty regularly inside the Oval Office. This is just a bigger venue where it was happening,” Collins said. “What was most surprising to me was — the room was filled with a lot of his staffers, his cabinet, his allies, Republicans in Congress — it was so quiet in the room during the president’s remarks.”
“Do you think it’s because of how much they respect him?” Stewart asked, to which Collins cheekily replied: “Who’s to say.”
Collins received an award for her coverage of Trump’s contentious meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky during the dinner, which was rescheduled from April after a gunman crashed through security at the original event. In his speech, the president said Collins “shouldn’t get the award” and that it was “fake,” and then went on a tangent about how she should smile more. Trump also compared Collins to trans advocate Dylan Mulvaney, mentioning the 2023 Bud Light controversy where conservative customers boycotted the beer brand after Mulvaney posted a social media ad featuring her face on a can.
