Donald Trump Snaps at Kaitlan Collins Again After She Shows Up to UN Summit Despite His CNN Ban: 'You Should Not Be Here'

President Donald Trump lashed out again at CNN’s chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins, on Tuesday, September 22, as he arrived at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, telling her, “You should not be here covering me.”

The testy exchange happened just days after the Trump administration revoked the White House press credentials for CNN, MS NOW and Politico, accusing the outlets of spreading "fake news.”

While those networks remain banned from White House grounds, Collins and other reporters could access the UN summit using official United Nations-issued media passes.

During the confrontation, Collins asked the president about a recent poll regarding the public perception of the conflict in Iran.

Trump ignored the policy question, instead gesturing toward Collins and stating, "I'm surprised that CNN is here covering me... You said you weren't going to cover me. You shouldn't be covering me.”

When Collins replied that the United Nations allowed them in, Trump repeated his assertion that she should not be there.

Later that night, Trump escalated the rhetoric on Truth Social, calling Collins a "Third Rate 'Reporter'" and labeling the banned networks "sick, treasonous, and demented."

During an appearance on Anderson Cooper 360° that same day, Collins corrected the record regarding Trump's claims. She pointed out that Trump falsely asserted CNN had agreed not to cover him.

"We’ve never said that," Collins stated. “The president is the one who’s trying to dictate how we cover him. And of course, it is still our job to do so.”

Following her remarks, Collins was once again attacked by Trump, who posted a late night Truth Social rant accusing her of having a "TRUMP addiction."

Trump’s unprecedented media ban has triggered significant blowback and legal action.

The affected news outlets filed a joint lawsuit in federal court seeking to restore their White House access immediately. In a unified protest against the administration's actions, major television networks — including ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC — temporarily suspended their pooled coverage of the president.

The relationship between Trump and the CNN star has been defined by a decade of high-profile, highly contentious clashes spanning his entire political career.

As a prominent White House correspondent and primetime anchor, Collins' persistent, direct questioning has often made her a primary target of Trump's public grievances against the media.

Most recently, Trump used his platform at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner redux in July to mock an award Collins won. He went on to make highly publicized personal remarks, comparing her to transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney and later sharing an AI-generated image ridiculing her. Collins brushed off the insults on The Daily Show, noting that such remarks were common and that her priority was the work, not the personal attacks.

In June, Trump blasted Collins for having “hatred in her eyes,” provoking a fervent defense of her by CNN colleague Anderson Cooper.

“That’s the president of the United States: a nearly 80-year-old man, who has no problem commenting on her physical appearance and telling her she needs to smile,” Cooper said live on-air. “That doesn’t happen to men. No one’s ever said that to me in an office setting. She was there, like every other journalist doing her job, standing around with a bunch of non-smiling men, by the way, all behind her.”