Photo: Alamy
President Donald Trump had a fairly predictable clash with CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins during a town hall event on Wednesday, calling her a “nasty person” after she barraged him with constant interruption.
The remark came after Collins grilled Trump over his handling of documents that were classified.
When Collins asked Trump why he held onto the documents despite a subpoena and requests from the National Archives, Trump responded defensively by asking Collins if he could talk and then claimed that he had the right to declassify any records.
The CNN host persisted and demanded that Trump answer her question.
The Daily Caller reported that President Trump “…interrupted Collins, as she disputed his claims about the Presidential Records Act and his criticisms against President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence, who also had classified documents in their private homes.”
Fox News summarized the fiery exchange:
“Are you ready? Can I talk?” Trump asked.
“What’s the answer?” Collins shot back. “I would like you to answer the question.”
“It’s very simple to answer,” Trump responded.
“That’s why I asked it,” Collins told him.
“It’s very simple — you’re a nasty person, I’ll tell ya,” Trump said, which sparked cheers from his supporters in the audience.
Fox News went on to report President Trump’s response: “It’s very simple. I was negotiating and we were talking to NARA — that’s Washington, to bring whatever they want. They can have whatever they want. When we left Washington, we had the boxes lined up on the sidewalk outside for everybody. People were taking pictures, everybody knew we were taking those boxes and the GSA — government service, the GSA was the one taking them. They brought them down to Mar-a-Lago. We were negotiating with NARA. All of a sudden, they raid our house.”
Even the least curious political observer would likely know about the venom-soaked relationship between President Trump and the mainstream media, particularly CNN.
In fact, Trump has had a number of run-ins with Collins herself. Most saliently, as Politico reports, “In 2018, Collins was barred from attending a press conference in the Rose Garden after asking questions about Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, and Russian President Vladimir Putin while she was on duty as the pool reporter.”