President Donald Trump has continued his attacks on mainstream media after implementing a controversial ban on several news outlets from White House events. CNN, MS NOW, and Politico have filed a lawsuit to regain access, while other news organizations have boycotted the press pool as a form of protest.
In a Truth Social post, President Trump accused media figures of being “sick, treasonous, and demented,” specifically targeting Kaitlan Collins, a CNN reporter. He wrote: “She’s got a ‘TRUMP’ addiction, and so does CNN and MSDNC. They’re all sick, treasonous, and demented!”
Collins, who was credentialed by the United Nations during President Trump’s address at the General Assembly, denied that CNN had stated it would not cover the president. “We will continue to cover the president and his speech,” she said, adding that they would report on meetings with world leaders without using a TV camera from one of the five major networks present.
The dispute originated from an incident where Collins questioned Trump about the end of the Iran war during his visit to the United Nations. Collins also faced restrictions from the White House in 2018, and Fox News defended her at that time by urging the administration to back off. CNN host Jake Tapper defended Collins, stating: “Not going to dignify the president’s juvenile social media post about our brilliant @kaitlancollins except to say she and we are going to keep doing our jobs.”
