Trump takes a shot at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins for being at the UN for his speech: ‘You shouldn’t be here’
President Donald Trump scolded CNN’s Kaitlan Collins for being at the United Nations General Assembly to cover his speech after he banned the network, along with MSNOW and Politico, from the White House for what he perceived as unflattering coverage of his presidency.
Collins was part of the press gaggle at the UN in New York Tuesday morning and asked the president, “Two-thirds of Americans don’t think the U.S. is winning the war with Iran. When will it end?”
Trump began by saying it was an “honor” to be at the event, before taking a swipe at Collins, who he has repeatedly targeted for “not smiling.”
“I’m surprised that CNN is here covering me,” he snapped. “You shouldn’t be here.”
Collins replied, “The United Nations allowed us in, sir.”
“You should not be here covering me,” Trump told Collins. “You said you weren’t going to cover me. You shouldn’t be covering me.”
After the exchange with Trump, Collins explained that the UN provided CNN’s credentials to cover the General Assembly, not the White House.
“We never said we were not going to cover the president,” Collins told viewers. “We will continue to cover the president despite their efforts to block CNN from accessing the White House grounds, which we are currently fighting in court.”
CNN, MSNOW and Politico have launched a joint lawsuit against the government, while ABC, Fox News, CBS and NBC suspended pooled television coverage on Monday in solidarity.
Trump concluded his brief remarks to reporters by claiming that the U.S. was making “a lot of progress” with the war in Iran, before walking to the escalator with first lady Melania Trump.
The couple was reminded of last year’s unfortunate incident when they got stuck on the escalator. As they approached this time, a bystander was heard shouting, “Be careful with the stairs!”
Last year the embarrassing episode prompted Trump to rail against the UN in his speech. The president and his then-White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, later peddled false claims of “sabotage,” and said the technical fault was “UN globalist staffers plotting to set up the President of the United States.”
It later emerged that someone, most likely Trump’s own team, had accidentally triggered the stop mechanism, a safety feature, a UN spokesperson said at the time.
