CNN correspondents fired back after President Donald Trump used the White House Correspondents’ Dinner to target and criticize one of the network’s star reporters.
During the rescheduled Friday event, which was intended to celebrate press freedom, Trump drew immediate backlash when he mocked CNN’s Kaitlan Collins just 10 minutes into his speech.
“That was an appalling hit at our colleague Kaitlan Collins,” said CNN’s Betsy Klein. Within minutes, Chief Media Analyst Brian Stelter noted that Collins’ spokesperson had already issued a response. “And the fact that CNN had a statement supporting Kaitlan ready to go… in advance… tells you everything about this media moment,” he wrote.
As the criticism mounted, Chief National Affairs Correspondent Jeff Zeleny pointed to the irony that the president had spent much of his hour-long speech attacking journalists he described as producers of “fake news.”
“For a president who complains so bitterly about the press, there’s never been anyone in the history of the modern presidency who spends as much time talking to reporters,” Zeleny wrote.
CNN correspondent Kristen Holmes then delivered a sharp rebuke aimed at Trump: “In addition to how much he speaks to the press, he is also one of the most unreliable sources at the White House.”
Holmes’ rebuke came as Trump used a dinner packed with journalists to launch repeated attacks on the press. It also comes amid growing scrutiny of the president’s frequently inaccurate claims he makes to the media.
According to The Washington Post, Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims during his first year in the White House. CNN recently highlighted the same pattern in his second term by compiling clips of the president telling reporters that Iran “wants to make a deal so badly” amid the war that began in February, despite simultaneously saying that a peace deal with Tehran was “over” as fighting resumed.
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner marked Trump’s first attendance while president. It had originally been scheduled for April but was postponed after a gunman, Cole Tomas Allen, entered the venue and attempted to target multiple Trump administration officials, officials said.
Trump targeted Collins after she received an award for her coverage of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the Oval Office, dismissing the honor as “fake” while claiming the recognition was ultimately “all about” him.
The president then turned his attention to Collins’ appearance, describing her as a “young, attractive woman,” but criticizing her for “never” smiling. He went on to compare her to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, whose appearance in a Bud Light advertisement sparked a conservative backlash several years ago.
