President Donald Trump doesn’t appear to be backing down from his attacks on Kaitlan Collins after making a controversial joke about the CNN journalist at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
In a TruthSocial post on Sunday, July 26, Trump, 80, caught the attention of some followers when he shared an AI-generated image of Collins, 34, seemingly morphed with transgender actor and influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Trump previously compared Collins to Mulvaney, 29, during a speech at the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Friday, July 24.
After Collins received a prestigious award for her coverage of his highly publicized Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump took aim at the news anchor.
“[Collins is] a young, attractive woman. She never smiles,” Trump said. “I said, ‘Kaitlan, do you ever smile? Smile. You have a nice position, you’re at CNN fake news, you should be a happy person. So smile, Kaitlan, just smile.”
He continued, “I thought Kaitlan had really made it big with a major new sponsorship, but then I was informed that it wasn’t her on the Bud Light can; it was Dylan Mulvaney.” (Mulvaney is an activist whose 2023 advertising campaign with Bud Light was condemned by right-wing politicians and influencers.)
After the speech, Mulvaney broke her silence on the viral moment in a TikTok video.
“To the president — thank you for reminding me that I am more powerful than I even knew,” she said on Sunday. “To quote my favorite recording artist, Shea Diamond, I am America.”
In response to the chatter surrounding Trump’s AI photo, White House spokesman Davis Ingle told Us, “The liberal media can dish it but they can’t take it.”
Some of Collins’ CNN colleagues have spoken out in defense of the journalist.
On the Monday, July 27, episode of The Situation Room, Wolf Blitzer — who served as a presenter at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner — praised Collins’ contributions to the news network.
“Having worked very closely with Kaitlan over the years, both Pamela [Brown] and I can attest to her excellent reporting and deep sourcing within the administration,” he said. “She is a true professional, a class act and we are so very proud of her. And despite what President Trump keeps saying, she has a truly beautiful smile.”
Brown, 42, added, “Yes. Two sources right here. I also worked with her at the White House during Trump’s first term, and she really is one of the best out there.”
