Anderson Cooper has defended his CNN colleague Kaitlan Collins after President Donald Trump made an unhinged outburst directed at her in the Oval Office.
Trump, who turns 80 this month, turned on CNN’s chief White House correspondent on Wednesday in a rant about people involved in the Jan. 6 riots having their “lives destroyed.” He then claimed, “I’m one of them,” referring to the 2021 FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago home, which he then called “a total fake.”
The president then insisted he was providing accurate information at the White House, in contrast to some media outlets, and pointed the finger directly at Collins.
“CNN’s crooked as hell, CNN’s a very corrupt organization, with a corrupt reporter standing right there, never smiles,” Trump said, gesturing to Collins, who had not asked Trump the question he was responding to.
“She never... a young beautiful woman [who] never smiles. I never see a smile off her face. I see her standing there with hatred in her eyes.”
Cooper addressed the issue on his show, saying Trump had done something “completely unwarranted” by “verbally attacking” Collins when she “did nothing to him ahead of it... at this point she was simply standing there doing her job.”
While he did not ask Collins about the incident, stating she was busy preparing for her show and “doesn‘t need to be answering questions about this kind of behavior,” Cooper made his thoughts clear.
“That’s the president of the United States,” Cooper said, “a nearly 80-year-old man who has no problem commenting on her physical appearance and telling her she needs to smile.”
Veteran reporter Cooper, 59, pointed out, “That doesn’t happen to men.”
“No one‘s ever said that to me in an office setting. She was there, like every other journalist doing her job, standing around with a bunch of non-smiling men, by the way, all behind her... she gets singled out.”
Cooper then aired footage of a previous exchange, from February, where Trump told Collins, “You are the worst reporter. No wonder CNN has no ratings because of people like you.” After telling her “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile,” Collins responded, “I’m asking you about survivors of Jeffrey Epstein.”
During The Source on Wednesday, Collins addressed Trump’s attack.
“The president seemed clearly irritated when he was asked earlier today why his administration says it is not moving forward with that $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, as they have called it,” Collins said.
Collins added, “And just to note... this first exchange actually occurred before I had yet to ask the president a question.”
During Wednesday’s press briefing at the White House, Trump snapped at Collins a second time when she asked him to clarify whether his $1.8 billion bill was “dead” or merely “on hold,” after he had failed to give a clear answer to another reporter.
Trump called the divisive bill that was going to fund Jan. 6 rioters a “beautiful thing,” and then turned on Collins personally: “People like you have abused our people so badly, the fake news like CNN, like the New York Times, and like others have abused our people...”
When Collins interjected to note Republicans had also criticized the bill, Trump said, “Wait a minute, be quiet,” Trump told the CNN host, “You should be ashamed of yourself. She used to be a conservative from Alabama, can you believe it?”
Collins previously worked for Tucker Carlson’s conservative media outlet, The Daily Caller. The host of The Source told Trump, “I’m still from Alabama, sir,” in response.
Trump continued his attack on CNN: “Now they have new ownership, maybe it’ll straighten it out, but I doubt it... it’s hard to straighten garbage out.”
The president said the people at the Capitol on Jan. 6 “are great people, people that went there with love...” before slamming the Democrats, telling Collins, “there’s something wrong with them, there’s something wrong with you, it’s a shame.”
During an interview with Andy Cohen for Watch What Happens Live on Tuesday, Cohen asked Collins about Trump calling female reporters “stupid” and “pigs,” and asked if a journalist would ever “break” and fire back at the president.
“Maybe, I don’t know, right?” Collins replied. “Never say never, I guess. But I mean, I truly think as a reporter, you shouldn’t make it about yourself.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
