CNN's Kaitlan Collins Reveals What She Thought of Donald Trump's 'Smile' Insult

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins responded to President Donald Trump’s taunts that he had "never seen her smile" in a February 17 appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

The controversy stemmed from a White House interaction where Trump told Collins, "I don't think I've ever seen a smile on your face," while she was questioning him about survivors of Jeffrey Epstein.

The CNN host asked Trump, “What would you say to survivors...” when the president interrupted her, ridiculing: “You are so bad. You know, you are the worst reporter. No wonder... CNN has no ratings because of people like you.”

“She’s a young woman,” Trump continued. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile. I’ve known you for 10 years. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a smile on your face.”

While speaking to late-night host Stephen Colbert, Collins noted it is not a "controversial opinion that you shouldn’t smile when you’re asking questions about a s-- trafficker and sexual assault victims.”

She argued that Trump used the remark to "deflect from the questions" being asked and noted he's frequently targeted her with name-calling in the past.

Speaking on The Source the night of Trump’s comments, Collins said that the president “views things through the lens of how it affects him.”

That same night, Vice President J.D. Vance jumped into the fray with comments of his own, snubbing, “Have some fun, right? You can’t always take yourself too seriously. You’re gonna have a heart attack.”

After airing Vance’s statements, Collins shot back. “The point of the question was what the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein are saying and the justice and the accountability that they want to see. It‘s nothing to smile about.”

The stalwart CNN reporter told Colbert she does "indeed smile, when it's appropriate," and noted she had been flooded with photos from family members showing her smiling since the exchange made headlines.

She said she wasn’t surprised “in the moment of the attack,” as Trump has previously called her “a lot of names” and “gone after” her in an attempt to “deflect” from uncomfortable questions.

“He is someone who is often politically savvy or tied in with what his base wants,” Collins said.

“In that moment I was thinking if he had said that in response to a different question, I think it would have had a different reaction. I think a lot of women can identify with that moment and that feeling. I think it was actually the question that is what generated so many headlines out of that,” she added.

Collins said that her question was about sexual assault survivors and “wasn’t even accusatory of the president.”

“I don’t think it’s a controversial opinion that you shouldn’t smile when you’re asking questions about a s-- trafficker and sexual assault victims,” Collins said, leading to loud applause from Colbert’s audience.

Collins appeared on Colbert’s show a day after CBS told him he could not air an interview with Texas Democratic Senate hopeful, James Talarico.

“[Talarico] was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast,” Colbert said.

The network later claimed Colbert “was not prohibited by CBS” from broadcasting Talarico’s interview, and that it was instead shared on The Late Show’s YouTube channel, which had over 5 million views as of Wednesday, February 18.

Talarico raised $2.5 million in 24 hours following controversy surrounding the interview.