Jake Tapper came to the defense of CNN peer Kaitlan Collins after President Donald Trump blasted her as a “loser” for asking if he stood by Pete Hegseth amid the new impeachment effort.
Earlier on Monday, Trump stopped by the White House press briefing room, where Collins asked the president if he planned to “stand by” Hegseth even if he is impeached.
“Yeah. I’ll stand by [him],” Trump said of his defense secretary, who currently faces impeachment articles introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). “He won two wars. He was in charge. We all won. I had great people.”
After Collins countered that Massie has claimed that Hegseth has carried out “illegal acts,” Trump descended into name calling. “Massie is a loser,” he said. “Just like you’re a loser at CNN. Just like your ratings are a loser.”
In response to this dig, Tapper took to X and voiced his support for Collins.
“There’s one person in this exchange whose behavior, hand-picked candidates, and policies were repudiated handily by voters with historical election losses coast to coast — including in Texas, Kansas, Iowa, Ohio and Georgia — and it ain’t Kaitlan,” he wrote.
A representative for the White House did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
This is not the first time that Trump has zeroed in on Collins, with the president lobbing insults the chief White House correspondent’s way on more than one occasion. For example, back in July, Trump took aim at Collins in his insult-heavy White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech, comparing her to trans actress and influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
However, this was far from the last time Collins’ name came out of Trump’s mouth. In fact, back in September, after Trump snapped at Collins at a press stop and then called her a “SLEAZEBAG” in a late night social media tirade, Tapper took to X and defended his colleague.
“Not going to dignify the president’s juvenile social media post about our brilliant @kaitlancollins except to say she and we are going to keep doing our jobs, which is to ask and cover the questions voters care about — like those about the war in Iran and the economy,” he wrote at the time.
CNN is currently embroiled – along with MS NOW and Politico – in a legal battle with Trump after the president attempted to bar them from the White House in September. However, the White House has repeatedly blocked CNN from participating in pool coverage amid the legal fight.
