CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins responded Saturday after President Donald Trump mocked her looks and demeanor during his White House Correspondents Dinner speech, posting a pointed message paired with an Eleanor Roosevelt quote on social media.
Trump told the crowd, "I wanna personally congratulate CNN's Kaitlan Collins on receiving her award; was all about me, it's a fake, she shouldn't get the award." He then added that Collins is "a young, attractive woman" who "never smiles," telling the audience, "I said, 'Kaitlan, do you ever smile? Smile. You have a nice position. You're at CNN fake news. You should be a happy person. Just smile, Kaitlan.'"
Trump then compared Collins to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, joking that he'd mistakenly thought she'd landed "a major new sponsorship" before realizing "it wasn't her on the Bud Light can."
It wasn't the first time Trump has told Collins she doesn't smile enough, having made a similar remark earlier this year after she pressed him on what he would say to Jeffrey Epstein survivors. Collins won her WHCA award for her coverage of the 2025 Oval Office meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In response, Collins shared an image on Instagram Saturday featuring an Eleanor Roosevelt quote: "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."
Alongside the image, Collins wrote that the second-best part of the night was receiving her award from "my friend and mentor," CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer. The first, she said, was "reminding everyone why the First Amendment – and asking uncomfortable questions that people in power don't like – matters."
