POTUS Again Lashes Out At Kaitlan Collins And Rants At Judge Who Will Decide Fate Of CNN, Politico And MS Now Ban

Donald Trump again lashed out at CNN‘s Kaitlan Collins, just as the Justice Department is defending the president’s ban on the network, MS NOW and Politico from the White House.

Late on Tuesday, on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “All of the SLEAZEBAGS, like Third Rate ‘Reporter,’ Kaitlan Collins, of Fake News CNN, a truly unhappy person, said they weren’t going to be covering me. Then why were they ranting and raving like Lunatics, in the Press Area, at the United Nations? Why was she there? She’s got a ‘TRUMP’ addiction, and so does CNN and MSDNC. They’re all sick, treasonous, and demented! The ‘good news’ is that they have a great, for them, and totally disloyal Judge. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DONALD J. TRUMP”

Collins, CNN’s chief White House correspondent, was at the United Nations on Tuesday when Trump arrived to speak to the General Assembly. As she shouted a question at him, he said that he was surprised to see her.

“You shouldn’t be here. You should not. You should not be here covering me. You said you weren’t going to cover me,” Trump told her.

On Friday, Trump banned the three outlets from the White House grounds. CNN, Politico and MS NOW filed a lawsuit on Monday claiming violations of the First and Fifth amendments. A judge will hold a hearing later on Wednesday on whether to grant the news outlets a temporary restraining order.

CNN has made no announcement that it was not covering Trump. But after the White House removed it from the TV pool, the other four networks in the rotation agreed to suspend their participation in protest.

The judge assigned to the case, Timothy Kelly, was appointed to the federal bench by Trump in his first term. In 2018, Kelly sided with CNN after its then-chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, had his hard pass revoked.

In a filing late on Tuesday, the Justice Department defended the ban, claiming that reporting from the outlets threatened national security. But the DOJ also cited stories that had nothing to do with those concerns, including a Politico report in which unnamed sources criticized the Trump’s midterm convention in Dallas.

Attorneys for the networks filed reports on Trump’s comment to Collins at the UN, apparently hoping to add to evidence that the ban is an effort to suppress freedom of the press.

A CNN spokesperson said, “Kaitlan Collins is an exceptional, trusted journalist being honored tonight for her depth of knowledge and the context she provides to audiences all over the world. She reports every day from the White House and the field with real strength and tenacity and skillfully brings that reporting to the anchor chair and CNN platforms every day. We stand by her to the fullest extent.”