'I Know the Pressure. I’m Fine': CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Downplays Anticipated 'Hostile' Showdown With Donald Trump at Town Hall
May 10 2023, Published 1:15 p.m. ET
Kaitlan Collins is feeling good — even though all eyes will be on her when she goes head-to-head with Donald Trump at CNN's town hall on Wednesday, May 10.
“She’s f****** fearless,” a source told Playbook. “I’m nervous for her, but it’s almost like I’m annoying her by asking [how she’s doing]. … She’s like, ‘I know the pressure. I’m fine.’”
As OK! previously reported, the 76-year-old, who hasn't appeared on the network since 2016, will answer questions at New Hampshire’s St. Anselm College.
Collins, 31, is the moderator, but it's unclear if she will lean on audience questions or ask her own.
“It’s a balance beam and it can be walked,” Frank Sesno, a former CNN Washington bureau chief now at George Washington University, said. “We’re going to see if Kaitlan is worthy of the Olympics.”
Collins and Trump have gotten into it in the past. The two got into a tussle when she asked Trump about the U.S.-Mexico border in 2019.
“You ran your campaign promising supporters that Mexico is going to pay for the wall,” Collins began before Trump interrupted her. “Oh here we go again,” he said.
“And that wall was going to be made of concrete,” Collins continued. “You just said earlier that the wall could be made of steel and right now our government is shut down over a demand from your administration that the American taxpayer pay for the wall. So how can you say that you are not failing on that promise to your supporters?”
“A very nice question so beautifully asked, even though I just answered it,” Trump replied. “I just told you that we just made a trade deal. We will take in billions and billions of dollars, far more than the cost of the wall."
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One year later, Collins asked about North Korean President Kim Jong Un's health, but Trump wasn't having it and barely gave her the time of day.
“I don’t want to say. I won’t say that. We have a good relationship with North Korea — as good as you can have. I mean, we have a good relationship with North Korea. I have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un and I hope he’s OK," he said when asked about his relationship with the leader.
“No, that’s enough,” Trump said, implying he wasn't taking any more questions from the reporter. “The problem is, you don’t write the truth.”
“No, not CNN please,” he continued. “I told you, CNN is fake news. Don’t talk to me.”