Trump Insider Spills Embarrassing Theory About His Attacks on Female CNN Star

Media admin June 4, 2026 0 Comments

Trump Insider Spills Embarrassing Theory About His Attacks on Female CNN Star

A former White House insider has suggested that Donald Trump’s frequent attacks on CNN’s Kaitlan Collins are because he is “scared” of the reporter.

During Wednesday’s episode of CNN’s NewsNight, Sarah Matthews, who served as Trump’s deputy press secretary during his first White House term, was asked by host Abby Phillip for her reaction to the president lashing out at Collins in the Oval Office, including demanding that she smile.

Matthews suggested that during the president’s first term, Collins was the “one reporter that scared” former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany and Trump the most.

“There will be times when Kayleigh McEnany wouldn’t even call on Kaitlan Collins at press conferences, at press briefings, because she didn’t want to answer the questions,” Matthews said. “Because Kaitlan Collins is a very, very good reporter, she’s the best at what she does, and I think that’s why you see Trump go after her more ferociously than any other reporter in that room.

“It is disgusting to watch him tell a woman that she needs to smile while doing her job. I’ve seen Kaitlan smile plenty of times, but when she’s asking someone a hard-hitting question, I don’t think that means she has to smile while doing it.”

During a heated appearance before the press, Trump launched an unprompted attack on Collins after being asked by another reporter about the decision to drop the $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” following intense backlash.

Trump began ranting about how people, including himself, had their lives “destroyed” by federal investigations into him before turning his attention to CNN and Collins.

“CNN’s a very corrupt organization, with a corrupt reporter standing right there,” he said while pointing at Collins. “Never smiles. She never—she’s a young, beautiful woman, never smiles. I never see a smile on her face. I see her standing with hatred in her eyes.”

Trump also lashed out at Collins and told her to “be quiet” when she noted that Republicans had also condemned the Department of Justice’s slush fund, under which Jan. 6 rioters could have been eligible.

The incident is the latest in a long line of Trump’s verbal assaults on female journalists. This has included calling Collins “stupid and nasty,” describing The New York Times’ Katie Rogers as “ugly, both inside and out,” and shushing a Bloomberg reporter while telling her, “Quiet, piggy.”

Wednesday’s outburst was not even the first time that the 79-year-old president has complained that Collins does not smile while doing her job.

“You are so bad. You know, you are the worst reporter. No wonder,” Trump told Collins in February after she asked a question about Jeffrey Epstein.

“She’s a young woman. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile. I’ve known you for 10 years. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a smile on your face.”

Elsewhere on NewsNight, Matthews lamented how often Trump attacks female reporters, adding: “I wish that this wasn’t normalized, and that we weren’t desensitized to this type of behavior from the president, but it really is appalling.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.