Who is Kaitlan Collins, the CNN anchor who hosts Trump’s town hall?

A journalist once banned from a White House event for asking uncomfortable questions about Vladimir Putin is moderating an event in which a man facing legal risk lied about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, in a town hall aired on the cable news network that he blamed for posting fake news. We’re talking about CNN host Kaitlin Collins and Donald Trump, who of course wants to be president again.

Ms. Collins managed to become a political authority at the age of just 31, having held positions as a White House correspondent for CNN and previously as an entertainment reporter for Tucker Carlson’s website. the daily caller.

Born in Alabama to a family she previously described as “apolitical,” Collins graduated from the University of Alabama in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, moving to the country soon after.

After spending two years working the entertainment desk for the daily callerCollins moved on to become the website’s White House correspondent, having covered the 2016 election for the organization.

“The day [Mr Trump] was inaugurated was my first day covering the White House, and obviously it was an adventure that began that day,” he said in an interview with Fashion magaína “We had no idea what to expect”.

In 2017, she joined CNN’s politics team and became its White House correspondent, a position that led to her clashing with then-President Trump on multiple occasions.

In fact, one such occasion in 2018 saw her barred from a White House press event after asking allegedly “inappropriate” questions on topics including Russian President Vladimir Putin during Trump’s meeting with the president of the European Commission. , Jean-Claude Juncker.

“They said, ‘You’re out of press availability at the Rose Garden today,'” Collins told CNN at the time. “They said that the questions I asked were not appropriate for that place. And they said that he was screaming.

Her line of questioning often did not sit well with the Trump White House, which unofficially declared war on CNN during Trump’s 2016 campaign and White House tenure, and was described by then-press secretary Kayleigh McEnany as a time as an “activist”.

Yet for all her “inappropriate” questions and her CNN affiliation, Collins seems to have escaped the scathing online attacks on the former president that many of her colleagues have been subjected to, suggesting she’s much better positioned. than many to point to the town hall.

In fact, it is believed that he was offered the role thanks in large part to his experience interviewing the former president.

“He wants to intimidate and harass you not to ask him what he doesn’t want to be asked about. You have to remember to focus on the question and get an answer. Being banned by him really prepared me for it,” she said. Fashion to interview Mr. Trump.

Most recently, in September 2022, Collins moved on to host a morning show with Don Lemon and Poppy Harlow; however, the transition was far from easy. Lemon parted ways with CNN in April amid a furor over sexist comments on the air, but not before he reportedly yelled at Collins off the air, leaving her in tears.

There’s always pressure on city council moderators, especially when the subject has just been convicted of sexual assault and is partially giving CNN access like a big middle finger to Fox News, who he’s fighting with. But as a rising journalist who has already faced some controversy, things are heating up for Collins.

How will you cope with the pressure? In the words of a Washington insider, “Kaitlan has great bosses, he should do a good job.”