Donald Trump Escalates His Feud With Kaitlan Collins With Gross 8-Word Attack

CNN's Kaitlan Collins has covered President Donald Trump for years, and she's never been shy about asking him the hard questions. Naturally, the divisive politician does not like this, and he's engaged in a verbal scuffle with the network's chief White House correspondent on numerous occasions. The most recent one occurred on February 3, 2026, during an Oval Office pool spray, when Collins once again pressed Trump on the Epstein files and the prominent people who have been revealed to be in them. The reporter asked whether he'd read the newly released batch of documents. Trump confirmed he hadn't. Collins then continued her line of questioning, eventually asking, "What would you say to people who feel they haven't got justice, Mr. President?" 

The clearly irate politician snapped, "You are the worst reporter. [...] CNN has no ratings because of people like you," (via YouTube). This was nothing Collins hadn't heard before, but then Trump went for the jugular. "I don't think I've ever seen you smile," he sneered. "I've known you for 10 years. I don't think I've ever seen a smile on your face. You know why? You know why you're not smiling? Because you know you're not telling the truth." It was one of the most misogynistic lines the controversial leader could utter, and he likely said it for that exact reason. 

Netizens expressed their outrage, including criticizing Collins' colleagues for not standing up for her in the face of Trump's verbal attacks. "You watch your colleague being treated like that being disrespected like that and you just stand there and let it happen and then ask your question," one such X user raged. If Collins was insulted, she didn't show it. In fact, the CNN stalwart posted a reel of the entire exchange on her Instagram Stories.

Kaitlan Collins and Donald Trump might be locked in a bitter feud, but it hasn't prevented the CNN journalist from doing her job. Collins has gone toe to toe with many members of Trump's cabinet, and she's weathered the president's wrath on numerous occasions too. In December 2025, he took to Truth Social in a fury to chastise her for daring to ask questions about his White House ballroom renovations, for which the price tag keeps getting higher. "Caitlin Collin's [sic] of Fake News CNN, always Stupid and Nasty, asked me why the new Ballroom was costing more money than originally thought one year ago," Trump fumed, misspelling Collins' first and last name. 

The White House correspondent, again, wasn't deterred, reposting the message on her Instagram Stories and captioning it: "Technically, my question was about Venezuela," per People. While making an appearance on the "Trading Secrets" podcast in 2025, Collins was grilled on how she weathers the divisive politician's attacks — not just on her, but on the media as a whole. Trump's shadiest comments to female reporters became increasingly more eyebrow-raising as the initial year of his second term came to an end, and podcast host Jason Tartick asked Collins whether she was ever worried about losing her job as a result of her frank questions and reporting. 

The CNN stalwart said no, elaborating, "I operate honest and fair. But my fear is that it does inhibit some people from writing tougher stories or asking tough questions because they're scared of the repercussions. And I don't think that's a good precedent to set for the media." If Trump thinks repeatedly flinging insults at Collins is going to get her to back off, he's barking up the wrong tree.