Bill O’Reilly blasted CNN’s Kaitlan Collins as a “rookie” for saying the White Correspondents’ Dinner shooter was “confirmed dead” when he was, in fact, alive.
The veteran journalist weighed on in Collins’ error during Monday’s episode of “No Spin News,” where he suggested that CNN’s chief white house correspondent didn’t “have the basics down.”
“She’s a rookie,” O’Reilly said after playing footage of Collins’ report from the WHCD. “Looks good on TV. Can conduct an interview. She doesn’t know what she’s doing. You don’t report a story like that … because that’s what they call hearsay.”
He continued: “She’s got no valid source for that story other than some secretary of education. How would [s]he know? Now, if you want to mention it, you can say there’s a rumor, you could say that. But you don’t say, ‘They said he is confirmed dead.’”
Watch his comments below. A representative for CNN did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
As we previously reported, President Donald Trump was rushed from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night after gunshots rang out at the Washington Hilton. Chaos quickly unfolded as attendees ducked behind tables and journalists scrambled for answers.
Amid this chaos, Collins got on the air on CNN and said, “All right, guys. I just want you to know this is not verified. We’re just listening to what’s happening right now. But we have security around us and it’s Secret Service, because there’s a lot of members of the administration here. The secretary of education is seated right next to me and her security just said confirmed that there was a shooter in the lobby. It’s not clear where, obviously it’s at a very big hotel … They said he is confirmed dead.”
Yet, Trump and the Secret Service later said an individual was in custody, later identifying the suspect as 31-year-old California resident Cole Tomas Allen. He was charged Monday with attempting to assassinate President Trump, which is punishable with life in prison. He did not enter a plea for the attempted assassination or corresponding firearm charges.
