CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins dismissed President Trump's recent attacks during the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Association dinner, arguing that the real source of his ire was an award she received for her coverage of his administration.
Appearing on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Collins said she tries to avoid making the confrontation personal. “I’ve always felt this, regardless of who’s the president, whether it’s Joe Biden, Donald Trump — those are the two I’ve covered — it’s really not about me, and I don’t want it to be about my reaction,” she explained. “If you let it become about that, then it becomes a back-and-forth between the two of us.”
Instead, Collins steers the conversation back to the substance. “I think it’s more effective to remind people in those moments when he is insulting me or when he is criticizing me about the question I asked, or the reporting that I did that he was so angry about in this moment, and the fact that I got an award for it that really bothered him clearly,” she said, in comments first flagged by Mediaite. “I just think in those moments it’s important to put the reminder back on the work, on the question, and on the non-answers that we get.”
At the WHCA dinner, Trump took aim at Collins and CNN, labeling the award she received as “fake.” “It was all about me,” he claimed. “It was a fake, she shouldn’t get the award, it was a fake. But I didn’t mind.” He also mocked her appearance, comparing her to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who has similarly dismissed the ridicule.
The president has a long history of targeting Collins. Earlier this year, during a White House press gaggle, he told her to “smile more” and denounced her reporting. His broader feud with CNN has persisted for years, with Trump regularly accusing the network and its leaders of bias and calling for the outlet to be sold to new owners.
Collins’ approach reflects a strategy many White House correspondents have adopted: focusing on the story rather than the president’s personal attacks. Her remarks come amid ongoing tensions between the administration and the press, with other outlets also facing criticism. The WHCA dinner, originally scheduled for April but postponed due to the pandemic, drew attention to the strained relationship between Trump and the media.
The president’s comments at the dinner are just the latest in a series of confrontations. In recent months, Trump has sparred with reporters over topics ranging from his administration's mail-in voting restrictions to his tariff policies in Michigan. The WHCA award, which Collins received for her reporting during the Trump administration, has become a flashpoint in this broader conflict.
For Collins, the key is to keep the focus on the work. “It’s really not about me,” she reiterated, “and I don’t want it to be about my reaction.”
