The president Donald Trump it took aim at regular aim Kaitlan Collins during the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner.
“I want to personally congratulate CNN's Kaitlan Collins for receiving her award. It was all about me. It's a lie – she shouldn't have received this award, it was a fake,” said Trump, 80, during the event on Friday, July 24, which was moved to the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, DC, following a financial security breach in April last year.
Collins, 34, was previously honored for his coverage of the president's Oval Office meeting with the president of Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskyy – an exchange that drew heavy criticism of the president and his ongoing friendship with various rulers, including the President of Russia. Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un of North Korea.
“But I don't mind, I said, 'Kaitlan, congratulations.' But it was a lie, no question,” continued the president, before paying attention to the way Collins looked. “She's a young, attractive woman. She never smiles. I said, 'Kaitlan, are you smiling? Smile. You have a great position, you're on CNN fake news, you should be a happy person. So smile, Kaitlan, just smile.'
He added of the news anchor's appearance, “I thought Kaitlan had made it big with a big new sponsorship, but then I let her know it wasn't the one in the Bud Light can, it was. Dylan Mulvaney.”
Trump's decision to compare Collins to Mulvaney, a transphobic actor, has been widely criticized as transphobic, as the president and his administration have repeatedly referred to trans athletes competing in women's sports and trans youth – and adults – accessing gender-affirming care.
Us has reached out to the White House for comment.
The president's speech at the rescheduled dinner, which was intended to celebrate freedom of speech and freedom of the press, was not the first time the military commander targeted Collins and his appearance.
“She's a beautiful young woman. She never smiles. I've never seen a smile on her face,” Trump told reporters during an Oval Office press conference earlier this month. “I see him standing there with hatred in his eyes, as if he has hatred, because we have borders, because we have a strong army, because we are cutting our taxes, because we are doing things that everyone wanted, and then we won our elections with a big landslide.”
President Donald Trump's seemingly never-ending battle with the media continues after the president ended his interview on Meet the Press. “Let's call it quits because enough is enough,” Trump, 79, told Meet the Press host Kristen Welker on Sunday, January 7, after a reporter asked the president about the so-called “weapons” fund. […]
He continued at that time and said, “People like you have hurt our people a lot, fake news like CNN The New York Times, and like others, they have tortured our people, they tortured our people a lot.”
After two days The New York Times published the first of two stories about security concerns surrounding the president's new Air Force One plane, which was donated to him by Turkey, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed subpoenas against three journalists in an attempt to compel them to reveal their sources.
On Thursday, July 23, the DOJ withdrew its subpoenas to reporters, admitting that the administration made “legal errors,” according to the Associated Press, after a federal judge criticized the DOJ for violating the First Amendment.
