CNN’s Kaitlan Collins challenged Scott Jennings over his defense of President Donald Trump’s $14 million renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which is already being smothered beneath an algae bloom and shedding the president’s favorite “American flag blue” paint.
While discussing the many challenges Trump’s pet project has faced in just the few weeks the president officially declared it rehabbed with the network’s resident conservative, Collins reminded her guest that Trump ”was the one who said they wouldn’t have algae... that they were going to fix this,” before adding: “It’s not just the algae. The paint is peeling off... and now he’s blaming it on vandals, but I’m not totally sure that that’s the reason the pool’s having issues.”
“The pool is having issues because it’s a stagnant pool of water in the summer in the middle of a swamp,” Jennings replied. “You’re never going to defeat all the algae. The pool did need a renovation. And when they put these nanobubblers in, I think it’s going to help clear the algae,” he added, referring to a filtering system repeatedly cited by the Trump administration.
“Scott,” Collins interrupted, “what is a nanobubbler?”
“I have no idea,” Jennings responded with a completely straight face, which elicited a laugh from the host. “I just know that it apparently cleans up the algae. And I also think it could be a great name for an indie rock band.”
He added: “I feel for the president. Trying to clean up algae in a pool full of water in the summertime is a hard thing to do.” Even though that’s what Trump specifically promised to do.
Collins is possibly Trump’s No. 1 target when he’s taking questions from the media. The 80-year-old president has called her “corrupt,” as well as “the worst reporter.”
On more than one occasion, the president has also scolded the 34-year-old anchor for not smiling. “A young, beautiful woman [who] never smiles,” Trump said of Collins during an Oval Office press conference earlier this month. “I never see a smile off her face. I see her standing there with hatred in her eyes.”
Collins did, however, smile at Jennings.
