CNN's Kaitlan Collins Most Awkward On-Air Moments

Kaitlan Collins isn't afraid to ask the hard questions, and a lot of people don't like it, including President Donald Trump. It might be fair to say that Collins gets under the Trump administration's skin more than almost any other reporter. She's had several petty interactions with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, with her line of questioning often leaving Leavitt either frustrated, flustered, or both. One could argue that a journalist's competence can often be measured by the amount of people they infuriate, and if that is indeed the case, Collins is at the top of her class.

Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly once tore into Collins on her eponymous talk show. Aside from asserting that Collins is a biased reporter, Kelly made it personal, adding, "She's extremely boring with no personality. I have a pro tip for her: Smile. Try smiling.. Try not to be in your delivery like such a cold-hearted b***h all the time, because it gives people nothing to bond to." Either Kelly envies that Collins is still working for cable news (NBC canceled Kelly's show and terminated her contract after she made controversial blackface comments) or she wanted to use Collins to make the point that she's a better journalist.

Needless to say, Collins' list of enemies is quite long. She once got banned from the White House after interrogating Trump about his seemingly friendly relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but even this hasn't deterred her. "[My job is] to ask questions and get answers," she once told the New Yorker (via Express). "It's not about me. If you let them make it about you, I think you're losing." This mantra, however, has landed Collins in many awkward on-air situations.

Kaitlan Collins either has a very good therapist or incredibly thick skin, because getting called a "low-rated anchor" by the president of the United States during a live broadcast must be, er, humiliating. Again, perhaps it depends on who that president is. Regardless, when President Donald Trump met with the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, several journalists were present in the Oval Office, and among them was Collins. She was as eager as ever to ask questions, and one could see the woe on Trump's face when he realized she was there.

"Go ahead," Trump said as Collins raised her hand (via Hindustan Times). "Let's hear the question from this very low-rated anchor at CNN. Low-rated." Ouch. Collins, seemingly undeterred, asked Trump about the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The White House has admitted that he was wrongfully deported, but the president has made it clear he will not bring Garcia back to the country. Instead of answering Collins' question, the president asked his Attorney General Pam Bondi to do the heavy lifting on that one. 

Once Bondi finished addressing Collins, Trump tried to humiliate Collins even further, turning to his advisor, Stephen Miller, and requesting he add his two cents. "Because you know, it's asked by CNN and they always ask it with a slant, because they're totally slanted because they don't know what's happening, that's why nobody's watching them," Trump said. After Miller answered the question, Collins attempted to ask a follow-up, but the president talked over her. Collins, amazingly, refused to stand down, reminding Trump that he appeared to have ignored a Supreme Court order to return Garcia to the U.S. He reprimanded her for continuing her line of questioning, adding, "You know you have no credibility."

While making an appearance on the "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," Kaitlin Collins touched on what it's like to interview and cover President Donald Trump for CNN. "You'll be surprised but never shocked," Collins said, explaining that she knows full well what lies in wait whenever she's tasked with covering the president. This is perhaps why Collins did such a good job of maintaining a poker face during CNN's 2023 Town Hall, where she questioned Trump extensively about the classified documents he'd stashed at Mar-a-Lago. Her line of questioning evoked the politician's wrath and led to a very awkward moment.

Trump complained that the FBI never raided former presidents Barack Obama or Joe Biden's homes for classified documents. Collins pointed out that neither ignored a subpoena to hand over the files like Trump did, then pressed the president for an answer. He didn't like that and proceeded to treat Collins like a naughty child. "Are you ready? Can I talk? Do you mind?" Trump asked impatiently. "I would like for you to answer the question, that's why I asked it," Collins replied. Trump lost his cool then and told Collins, "It's very simple that you are a nasty person." His comment was met with loud laughs and some cheers from the audience. Oof! Collins appeared to be immune to the humiliation the president was trying to subject her to, staring him down while he proceeded to give a non-answer and fact-checking his claims.

Meanwhile over on X, Trump supporters were having a field day, celebrating the awkward moment and praising Trump for speaking off the cuff. Others were furious. "He is a weak little boy. He hates women in a position of power," one user wrote.

Not long after former President Joe Biden endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris after his election dropout, Kaitlan Collins made an appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" to talk politics. However, the interview took an awkward turn when the audience laughed at the wrong moment. "I know you guys are objective over there [at CNN], that you just report the news as it is," Colbert started. The audience burst into laughter. Collins gave Colbert some side-eye. "Is that supposed to be a laugh line?" she asked. Colbert awkwardly tried to remedy the situation. "It wasn't supposed to be, but I guess it is," he joked before quickly moving on. Collins followed his lead, but netizens quickly spread the clip all over social media.

Megyn Kelly, who is known for her scandalous outfits (and her lengthy stint on Fox News, of course), jumped at the opportunity to make the embarrassing moment last. "She [Collins] is on CNN, she goes over to get the lovely treatment from Stephen Colbert on how amazing she is and how amazing CNN is, and the left-wing New York City audience brought some truth to the matter ... Unbelievable. How humiliating and good for that audience. They knew that was a farce," Kelly revelled on "The Megyn Kelly Show."

Some X users also weighed in on the matter, with one accusing Collins and Colbert of being out of touch with reality. "They literally have no idea what 90% of Americans think about CNN," one penned. Added another, "This is the funniest joke this show has ever made." This moment is definitely one Collins would probably rather forget.

In February 2023, Kaitlan Collins and her co-host, Don Lemon, shared a cringe-worthy moment on air that made plenty of waves in the media afterward. They were discussing American basketball player Brittney Griner's return home after she was convicted of drug trafficking in Russia when cannabis oil was found in her luggage. Lemon was taking the lead, but Collins kept interrupting him, adding factoids she seemingly felt were important and that her fellow anchor failed to mention. Lemon looked at Collins, maintaining a poker face, and then continued his statements as if she'd never spoken.

While this particular on-air moment gave viewers secondhand embarrassment, the media would later inform the public that what happened after this awkward incident was even worse. "Don screamed at Kaitlan, who was visibly upset and ran out of the studio," one source told the New York Post, saying Lemon was incredibly upset that Collins had interrupted him during the segment. "At this point, Kaitlan wants to be on set with Don as little as possible. It's messy," another source added.

Even CNN's former CEO, Chris Licht, was forced to jump into the fray when news of the incident reached him. Lemon was told to take a day off work to cool his temper and reminded to allow his co-anchors to speak on air. It would appear that the entire awkward exchange was more a Lemon problem than a Collins problem. "Don has been given notes to not talk so much, to let other people talk," a source told the New York Post. Things only went downhill from here, and Lemon was eventually fired from the network in April 2023.

When it got out that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's team had somehow managed to add a reporter from The Atlantic to their Signal group chat about war plans in Yemen, all hell broke loose. The scandal went down as one of Hegseth's most embarrassing moments in the Trump administration so far. Among those eager to get to the bottom of the scandalous affair was Kaitlan Collins, so when the Secretary of Veteran Affairs, Douglas Collins, made an appearance on CNN, the no-nonsense news anchor took him to task on the leaked messages. 

The secretary refused to provide Collins with answers when she asked him point-blank whether Hegseth's team had made a mistake. "I just answered the question. I wasn't a part of it," the VA secretary answered (via True News). Collins continued her line of questioning, asking if the Signal app was used widely among Trump's cabinet. The secretary once again evaded the question, and, his patience spent, attempted to turn the tables and questioned Collins about a scandal CNN got itself into in 2021. Former veteran Zachary Young sued the network for defamation, claiming it insinuated he had financially exploited desperate Afghans during America's military withdrawal from the country in 2021. CNN denied wrongdoing but was found liable in court, with Young getting a $5 million payout from the network. Collins wasn't involved with this reporting.

"I'd like to hear from CNN as the veteran cabinet secretary why CNN seems to have a problem with veterans," the secretary barked. Collins managed to keep a straight face as he raged on, then said, "Respectfully sir, I'm asking the questions here and I have no involvement in what you're referencing there."

When former Georgia Representative Stacey Abrams lost her bid to become Georgia's next governor in 2018 to her Republican opponent Brian Kemp, she told The New York Times Magazine that she felt the election process wasn't entirely fair. "I feel comfortable now saying, 'I won,'" she told the outlet in early 2019. "If you look at my immediate reaction after the election, I refused to concede. It was largely because I could not prove what had happened, but I knew from the calls that we got that something happened." This is reminiscent of President Donald Trump's reaction when he was bested by Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

Kaitlan Collins questioned Abrams about this rhetoric in 2024 ahead of the upcoming presidential election, asking the former Georgia representative if she regretted making those statements, given what happened after the 2020 election. "Well go back to elementary school again and use comprehension as the basis. I acknowledge that Brian Kemp won that election. What I called into question was the process that was used," Abrams responded (via Mediaite). Ouch. 

Collins, as per usual, pressed on, referencing the New York Times interview. "Kaitlin, that's actually incorrect. And normally I wouldn't cut you off, but you're repeating disinformation," Abrams said (via X), going on to accuse Collins of making assumptions based on headlines instead of reading "the fine print." Collins looked less than pleased and as the interview neared its end, told Abrams that reporters at CNN do, in fact, read the fine print before ending the interview. Netizens were quick to respond to the awkward interview, with one penning, "She [Abrams] had Kaitlan on the ropes!" Added another, "Look at Kaitlin's face ... she was seething inside."

It might be safe to say that Kaitlan Collins has largely been responsible for many of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's most unprofessional moments. The two simply don't get along, mostly because of Collins' signature relentless questioning, which has left Leavitt visibly seething on a few occasions. No doubt Collins' presence has made White House press briefings much more interesting to the masses, but her and Leavitt butting heads has caused its fair share of awkward moments as well.

On one occasion, Collins was questioning Leavitt about the leaked war plans on Signal, asking if President Donald Trump felt his advisors had been lying to him after it came to light that war plans were, indeed, relayed in the group chat, whereas he was previously assured that this was not the case. Leavitt, noticeably irritated, told Collins she'd already answered the question multiple times. The latter replied with a follow-up question but Leavitt refused to take it. "Go ahead, Phillip," she said (via CNBC), turning her attention to another journalist. Collins interrupted again. "Kaitlan, I'm not taking your follow-up," Leavitt said. Collins, undeterred, continued her line of questioning. Leavitt reiterated that Collins' time was up and moved on. Watching the encounter arguably gave many pundits second-hand embarrassment.

In another uncomfortable exchange, Collins asked Leavitt about the Trump administration's decision to ban the Associated Press from recent briefings, questioning who made the decision. Instead of answering the question, Leavitt made it clear to all present (but especially to Collins) that White House access is a privilege. "We reserve the right to decide who gets to go into the Oval Office," Leavitt said (via CNN), seemingly in an attempt to remind Collins who is boss.