Kaitlan Collins Fires Back After Donald Trump’s Oval Office Outburst: 'I Had Yet to Ask the President a Question'

During a heated Wednesday, June 3, Oval Office exchange, President Donald Trump launched a personal tirade at CNN's Kaitlan Collins, accusing her of having "hatred in her eyes" and being a "young woman" who "never smiles."

Collins later responded on her show, The Source, pointing out that this initial outburst actually occurred before she had even asked him a single question.

The fiery Oval Office interaction began when another journalist asked Trump about his administration's decision to drop a $1.8 billion Department of Justice "weaponization" slush fund. Instead of answering, Trump turned his focus to Collins, calling CNN a "very corrupt organization" and taking aim at her personally.

"Never smiles — a young, beautiful woman. Never smiles. I never see a smile on her face. I see her standing there with hatred in her eyes, like, she has hatred because we have borders, because we have a strong military, because we cut our taxes...,” Trump said.

After venting, Trump also brought up Collins’ roots, telling her, "You used to be a conservative from Alabama," to which she replied, "I'm still from Alabama, Sir.”

Collins slyly addressed the outburst later on her show, prefacing the clip, saying, “As you’re about to hear in his answer here, the president seemed clearly irritated when he was asked earlier today why his administration says it is not moving forward with that $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, as they have called it. And to note, as you’re about to listen to this, this first exchange actually occurred before I had yet to ask the president a question.”

Her network subsequently backed Collins, while former Trump spokeswoman Sarah Matthews and other critics publicly blasted the president's attack, claiming the outburst showed he was deeply unnerved by the renowned journalist's rigorous reporting.

Following the outburst, Matthews appeared on CNN’s NewsNight to provide context on why the president repeatedly singles out Collins.

Matthews revealed that behind closed doors, Collins was the "one reporter that scared" both Trump and his former press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, the most.

According to Matthews, Trump's aggressive public focus on Collins' appearance and her refusal to smile is a defense mechanism because he is intimidated by her preparedness and sharp journalistic tenacity.

“I will say that during my time working as deputy press secretary in the first Trump administration, Kaitlan Collins was the one reporter that scared Kayleigh McEnany and President Trump the most,” said Matthews.

“There would be times where Kayleigh McEnany wouldn’t even call on Kaitlan Collins at press conferences, at press briefings, because she didn’t want to answer the questions, because Kaitlan Collins is a very, very good reporter. She’s the best at what she does. And I think that’s why you see Trump go after her more ferociously than any other reporter in that room. And it is disgusting to watch him tell a woman that she needs to smile while doing her job. I’ve seen Kaitlin smile plenty of times, but when she’s asking someone a hard-hitting question, I don’t think that that means that she has to smile while doing it. And he brings it up time and time again,” Matthews continued.

Matthews stopped supporting Trump on January 6, 2021.

As his deputy press secretary, she resigned later that evening, stating she was "deeply disturbed" by the Capitol attack and could not defend his actions or his response to the rioters.

She later testified against him during the House January 6 Committee hearings and ultimately endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

“And it’s these misogynistic attacks, not just against Kaitlin, you know, he told her today to be quiet while she tried to ask a follow-up question. We’ve seen him say, “Quiet piggy,” to a female reporter, another great female reporter, I will add, someone I worked with during my time in the trump administration. And so I wish that we– this wasn’t normalized and that we weren’t desensitized to this type of behavior from the president. But it really is appalling,” she said.