Kaitlan Collins Is the Only Person 'Challenging' Donald Trump 'Aggressively,' Claims Reporter Maggie Haberman

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman praised CNN’s Kaitlan Collins as the only White House reporter routinely challenging President Donald Trump aggressively and professionally.

Haberman and her New York Times colleague Jonathan Swan appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to promote their book Regime Change, which covers Trump's second term.

During the interview, Haberman highlighted several structural changes and issues facing today's White House journalists.

Haberman stated that Collins is the only person consistently pressing Trump with tough questions while maintaining a professional demeanor.

“Routinely the only person really challenging him aggressively — and not rudely or unprofessionally — is Kaitlan Collins,” Haberman said to an agreeable host and applauding audience. “And she takes an enormous amount of s---, and she keeps a total straight face. But she doesn’t have backup.”

In Trump's first term, if a reporter asked a question, others in the press pool would follow up.

Haberman noted this collective accountability has disappeared.

“They have structured — this White House — the press corps so that it is primarily people, or half people who they consider to be friendly to them,” Haberman said. “They control the media pool that is in there now. They control seats.”

Getting direct answers has become harder, she noted, because Trump frequently turns short policy questions into long monologues, tailoring his responses to his base rather than answering the question.

“In the old days, when we would be in the pool — even in term one — and they made it harder, but it was still doable, you’d ask a question, somebody else in the pool would follow up on your question,” Haberman explained. “Now it is, you ask a question about Ukraine, Iran, I can go on and on, and he turns to the Reflecting Pool. And it’s 20 minutes of him just talking. And so it is much more challenging.”

While many reporters now have Trump's direct phone number and can call the Oval Office, Haberman questioned whether these brief chats yield any substantive journalistic value.

“A lot of people have his number,” Haberman noted. “And for reporters, it’s, ‘Wow! I have the president’s number, and I can speak to him directly.’ And he controls the terms, right? There have been some pieces of news that have come out. But generally speaking, it’s him setting the agenda. He says one thing here, he says something totally different 15 minutes later, and it’s just him flooding the zone. And that’s what he did in New York when he was a tabloid guy.”

Haberman's defense of Collins comes amid heightened tension between the administration and CNN's chief White House correspondent. Earlier in June, Trump launched personal attacks against Collins during an Oval Office briefing, calling her "corrupt" and telling her to "be quiet" after she pressed him on funding related to January 6 defendants.