NOT HAVING IT

Kaitlan Collins Delivers Searing Trump Takedown on Twisted Attack Ad

The CNN anchor aired footage of her back-and-forth with Trump just hours earlier—and had more to say.

Kaitlan Collins delivered a searing on-air rebuttal to President Donald Trump after he defended a vile MAGA attack ad in a clash with her earlier in the day.

The CNN anchor, 34, confronted the president, 80, on Thursday over his rationale for Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s ad targeting Amy Acton, Ramaswamy’s Democratic rival in the Ohio governor’s race.

In it, Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, says her daughter has “lied her entire life.” The video shone a spotlight on Acton’s traumatic childhood, including her allegations of sexual abuse against her stepfather, Cledith Arthur, when she was a young girl.

Charged in 1978, Acton’s stepfather was charged and indicted for rape when she was just 12. Donna, the star of Ramaswamy’s video, stood by him, and she lost custody of her children. The two women have been estranged since. Cledith, meanwhile, skipped town before trial. He died a wanted man in 2004.

On The Source, Collins told viewers that, apart from Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ramaswamy, it was “kind of hard to find a prominent Republican” defending the ad.

Collins added Trump defended the ad, “quite fervently.”

Collins played various clips of Trump from Thursday. Hours earlier, he’d insisted he knew nothing about the case. “Well, I know nothing about it,” he said when a reporter raised the abuse.

INDEFENSIBLE

CNN Host Blasts Trump for His Twisted Excuse of Sick MAGA Ad

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When a reporter asked whether anything in a campaign ad should be “off limits,” Trump cast himself as the victim of a double standard. He claimed that if his own mother had trashed him like that, his critics would be celebrating. “You would have hit gold,” he told reporters, grinning.

During another response, Trump accused the press of teaming up, “and they’ve tried to make it look like a horrible thing. This is a mother saying very bad things about her daughter, and I don’t know why that should be shielded.”

Collins swiftly gave Trump some clarity.

“The horrible thing that the press has been covering is that, first off, something the Ramaswamy campaign has made an issue here and has brought to the forefront; it is that Acton’s stepfather was indicted for raping her when she was 12 years old; it’s her opponent’s campaign that is airing that ad with her estranged mother calling her a liar.”

“And so today, as the president was taking questions from reporters on his way to Iowa, I followed up with him on that.”

She then played her interaction with Trump, questioning why he never raised the sexual abuse allegations.

WHO’S THE DUMMY NOW?

Kaitlan Collins Schools Trump After His Deranged Attack

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“Well, I have no idea. I don’t know the mother. I don’t know her. I never heard of her until just recently as somebody running for governor of Ohio,” Trump said.

“I can tell you this, if my mother ever made those statements, I had a mother whose up there right now looking down... Mary McLeod Trump, if she ever made statements like that about me, you and your fake station would have it in front row center. You’d love it. What’s happened is the press has ganged up on a woman making a horrible statement about her daughter and I don’t know why she should be shielded,” Trump repeated.

“She accused her stepfather of child rape, Mr. President,” Collins said pointedly, cutting through the deflection.

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Trump ignored Collins and continued on.

“The mother made a horrible statement about the daughter. Said she was a dirty liar. She said she was a lot of different things, and I don’t know why you’re not allowed to say that,” Trump said. “I know one thing, if my mother, who loved me...”

Collins attempted to interject, “But the child rape allegation is different.”

Trump continued. “Amy Acton’s mother said horrible things about Amy Acton, and I don’t know why you’re not allowed to do that,” he said. “If what the mother said about the daughter is half right, she has no right even running for the governor of Ohio.”

Collins then tried again, raising Acton’s allegations and the fact that her stepfather, Cledith Arthur, had been charged.

“I have no idea,” he said. “All I know is Amy Acton’s mother said horrible things about Amy Acton, calling her a liar and other things, and unreliable. A lot of very bad things. And I say that she’s fair game.”

Cutting back to Collins in the studio, the CNN host spelled it out. “The president says there, Amy Acton and these allegations that she has made, and her relationship with her estranged mother, is fair game.”

She continued: “Again, it is hard to find a prominent Republican other than the ones you just heard from, the president, the vice president, or the candidate who’s running this ad, defending it as fair game.”

In the segment, Collins also highlighted Ashley Hinson, the GOP Senate hopeful Trump was campaigning for in Iowa on Thursday, criticized the ad.

The 43-year-old told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl in an interview for This Week that the spot is “absolutely terrible” and that Ramaswamy’s campaign should pull it.

Asked about her criticism, Trump said: “That’s her opinion.”

Collins said of Hinson: “Even the Republican candidate that the president is rallying with tonight in Iowa disagrees with his view of the ad.”

Ramaswamy’s team confirmed Tuesday night that it was behind the ad and said it would sink $4 million into putting it in front of Ohio voters.

Ohio’s own Republican governor wants the ad gone. Mike DeWine, who leaves office in January and whom Ramaswamy hopes to replace, told reporters the spot was “deeply, deeply troubling” and urged the campaign to take it down.

In a Truth Social post Thursday, Trump called DeWine “disloyal,” coaxing Ramaswamy to keep playing the ad.

Sen. Jon Husted, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, and former Ohio heavyweights John Kasich and Rob Portman have all broken ranks with Ramaswamy on it too, The Hill reported.

The White House and the Ramaswamy campaign did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s requests for comment.

Collins closed her monologue with footage from Trump’s Iowa rally Thursday night.

In the clip, Trump said Ramaswamy had called him for advice after “getting killed in the press.”

“So I told him, leave it up and look upstairs and say, thank you, God, very much,” Trump said.

Ramaswamy already trails Acton by seven points, 50 percent to 43 percent among likely voters, in a Marist poll taken Oct. 15–18, before the ad surfaced.

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