'Trump thought he could get on the phone and change Pelosi's mind' on impeachment: CNN correspondent

CNN White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins reported that President Donald Trump thought he could stop the House impeachment scandal by calling Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and explaining what happened in the Ukraine call.

In an interview with ABC News, Pelosi said that she heard "surprise in his voice that he didn't understand that I thought what he did was wrong."

"I think one of the things that is true in there is that Pelosi believes that President Trump, when she talked to him a week ago yesterday, that he didn’t understand that what he had done was not perfect, that actually could be perceived by many people as wrong even though it seemed as of today based on his refusal to answer questions about it, he now is starting to get it maybe," said Tapper.

Collins agreed, saying that none of her sources are using the word "scared" to describe the president. They do believe he is "in denial about this," she said.

"When the president made that phone call to Nancy Pelosi, he said it was about guns and I don’t think she thought it was about guns or did the aides that I spoke with, and it turns to this," Collins explained. "Essentially, what was communicated — to me by sources is the president thought he could get on the phone with her and change Nancy Pelosi’s mind. Which is interesting if you watch her the past few months because it is clear she was headed this way and so when they had that phone call, she walks away from it and thinks that essentially he didn’t think she was actually going to do this. He didn't actually think that she was going to take this step. So, it is interesting to see how she's portraying that call now, saying, he was scared about what was going to happen. Because I think he was genuinely surprised that she thinks there was something wrong with what he said during the phone call. And that's why you've heard them say they launched this inquiry before we released the transcript."

Watch the comments below: