CNN anchor defends Kaitlan Collins in on-air rant after Trump Oval Office smackdown
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CNN star Dana Bash cut away from a live press conference at the Oval Office to defend her colleague Kaitlan Collins after she was berated by president Donald Trump for asking about a man's deportation.
'I just want to say for the record, since we heard President Trump say in the Oval Office that CNN hates our country — CNN does not hate our country,' Bash said on Monday. 'That should go without saying.'
She added: 'I’ve been here for 32 years and I see a rhetorical device in him trying to say such a thing.'
Bash was responding to president Trump's claim that 'CNN hates our country' as he went after Collins for asking about the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Garcia, 29, was deported by the Trump administration in March, even though he had been granted legal protection from deportation to El Salvador by an immigration judge in 2019.
Trump, who was meeting with the president of El Salvador Nayib Bukele on Monday, reacted to Collins, clearly frustrated by the media's focus on the issue.
'How long do we have to answer this question from you?' Trump replied. 'Why don’t you just say, "Isn’t it wonderful that we’re keeping criminals out of our country?" Why can’t you just say that? Why do you go over and over? This is why nobody listens to you anymore. You have no credibility.'
Trump then punted the question to Attorney General Pam Bondi, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and Secretary of State Marco Rubio who all took turns explaining to Collins that Garcia was an illegal immigrant and alleged to have ties to MS-13 which is why he was deported.
Collins replayed the exchange at the White House on her show, reminding her audience that Garcia was facing 'danger' from gang members in his own country which is why the immigration judge granted him legal status and that his attorneys disputed that he was a member of MS-13.
'The president seemed to backtrack on what he said about the Supreme Court and instead leaned on some of his top aides to help make the case,' she said.
Collins reported that the Trump administration was trying to have it both ways on the case.
'At the White House tonight, the question is, which is it was it a mistake, an administrative error, or was it the right person sent to the right place? The Trump administration has now made both arguments, one in court and the other in front of the cameras,' she said.
The Trump administration is adamant that he is an MS-13 gangster who has no place in America.
Trump and Bukele signaled no interest in returning the man to Maryland, even though the Supreme Court directed the Trump administration to facilitate his return.
President Bukele marveled at Trump's rapid turnaround of border enforcement on the Southern border of the United States since succeeding President Joe Biden in January.
He questioned Trump why the news media in the United States did not report the good numbers on the border more often.
Trump said there was a '99.1 percent' border enforcement at the southern border and complained that the media had no interest in reporting the good news.
'Well they get out, but the fake news you know like CNN over here doesn't want to put them out because they don't like putting out good numbers, because I think they hate our country actually,' Trump continued.
Collins recently spoke about her job at CNN in a feature with Vanity Fair, describing herself as a 'joyful warrior' despite the president's verbal disparaging at the White House.
She dismissed Trump's criticism of her network as a 'distraction technique' and said the job was all-encompassing.
'There are no days off. You can't have a chill Friday. If you ever think it's going to be chill, it's guaranteed to not be,' she said.
