Kaitlan Collins’ reputation as a frequent target of presidential criticism followed her overseas on Wednesday, as a European crowd enthusiastically reacted to President Donald Trump’s sharp rebuke of the CNN reporter.
Before answering her question, Trump took a moment to predict how the exchange would unfold, setting the tone for yet another pointed encounter. “Oh, fake news CNN? Ayayai, here we go,” he said, shielding his eyes from the lights as he looked for Collins in the crowd.
“Wait ’til you hear this question. You should really say how great our soldiers and warriors are,” he added as the audience laughed. The expressionless Collins responded, “I think everyone appreciates our soldiers and our warriors.”
Collins went on to challenge President Trump’s reliance on an Israeli intelligence assessment that claimed “extensive” damage was inflicted on Iranian nuclear enrichment sites. Earlier that day, Trump had dismissed a preliminary U.S. intelligence report as “inconclusive,” after it suggested that the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes had only delayed Iran’s nuclear ambitions by a few months.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the bombings “totally obliterated” the three nuclear development sites. “Are you relying on the Israeli intelligence for your assessment of the impact of the strikes?” Collins then asked.
“No, no, no. Also Iran made the statement, and also if you read the document that was given [to CNN] — which we can talk about if you like — the document said it could be very severe damage, but they didn’t take that. They said it could be limited or it could be very severe,” Trump said.
“They really didn’t know other than to say it could be limited or it could be very, very severe. And you didn’t choose to put that,” he continued before accusing Collins and CNN more broadly of biasing their news report on a leaked assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency, which admitted there was “low confidence” in the information.
The president then referenced firsthand visits by Israeli sources who made their way into Iran to view the damage up close. “Since then, we’ve collected additional intelligence,” Trump continued. He added: “We’ve also spoken to people who have seen the site and the site is obliterated,” he finished, adding, “and we think everything nuclear is down there. They didn’t take it out.”
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