President Donald Trump once again put his fighting spirit on full display while confronting rude CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins, accusing her of having “hatred in her eyes,” while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on June 3, 2026. Right after responding to a question concerning the highly controversial “anti-weaponization fund,” which the president called a “beautiful thing,” he set his sights on CNN.
President Trump lit into the left-leaning network, calling it “crooked as hell” and a “very corrupt organization” before finally turning to Collins and unleashing on her. His takedown of Collins was brutal. “CNN’s a very corrupt organization, with a corrupt reporter standing right there,” Trump said, referring to Collins.
“Never smiles. She’s a young, beautiful woman who never smiles. I’ve never seen a smile on her face. I see her standing there with hatred in her eyes,” the president continued. He then said that the root of Collins’s rage was “because we have 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.”
According to a report from USA Today, later during his chat with the press, the topic of conversation once again returned to the anti-weaponization fund. Trump went off on CNN and the New York Times, accusing both outlets of abusing “our people so badly. At this point, Collins attempted to interject, but the president promptly told her to “be quiet.”
“You used to be a conservative,” he said to the CNN reporter. “She was a conservative from Alabama. Can you believe it?” President Trump then suggested that CNN should change their ownership in order to “straighten it out.” He followed that up by saying that still might not be enough, as “it’s so hard to straighten garbage out.”
CNN responded to the president’s comments about Collins, referring to her as an “exceptional journalist” in a statement. “Kaitlan Collins is an exceptional journalist, reporting every day from the White House and the field with real depth and tenacity,” CNN’s statement read. “She skillfully brings that reporting to the anchor chair and CNN platforms every day, which audiences around the world know they can trust.”
This isn’t the first time that Collins and Trump have faced off. Collins, 34, has frequently been involved in verbal sparring matches with the president. During his first administration, in 2018, Trump had Collins banned from attending a White House event. The president also slammed Collins for not smiling back in February, after she asked a question concerning the Epstein files.
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“You are the worst reporter,” Trump said to Collins during an exchange in the Oval Office on February 3, 2026. “CNN has no ratings because of people like you.” He wasn’t done there. “You know 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. You know why you’re not smiling? Because you know you’re not telling the truth.”