CNN anchor Jake Tapper is publicly defending colleague Kaitlan Collins after President Donald Trump attacked her on social media, calling her “stupid and nasty” and even misspelling her name.
Tapper, 56, responded on X on Saturday, Dec. 6, posting a bulleted thread that pushed back on several parts of Trump’s Truth Social rant from earlier that day.
Sharing a screenshot of Trump’s message, Tapper began by correcting the president’s spelling of Collins’ name, which Trump had written as “Caitlin Collin’s.”
He then disputed Trump’s characterization of Collins, 33, as “always Stupid and Nasty,” writing in his list: “2) she’s smart 3) she’s nice.”
Tapper also defended Collins’ work as a journalist. Trump appeared to be lashing out because she pressed him about his expansive White House ballroom project, which has drawn widespread criticism. (Collins later clarified on X that her question had actually focused on Venezuela, not the ballroom costs.)
Trump claimed in his post that Collins “asked me why the new Ballroom was costing more money than originally thought one year ago.” Tapper argued that, regardless of the exact wording, it was a fair line of inquiry.
“It’s a legitimate question about construction of a controversial project on White House grounds,” he wrote.
In the same Truth Social message, Trump insisted that the multimillion-dollar renovation — first announced in July — is “under budget and ahead of schedule,” despite multiple reports suggesting otherwise.
Tapper acknowledged Trump’s explanation in the final entries of his bulleted response, before turning to the president’s broader shots at CNN.
In his rant, Trump derided the network as “corrupt,” mocked its ratings and relevance, and repeated his favored “fake news” insult.
Tapper chose to address just one of those attacks in his sixth and final point, writing, “Generally speaking, if someone or something is irrelevant, the President doesn’t talk about them.”
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Trump’s post about Collins is the latest in a series of attacks he has aimed at female journalists.
Recently, he called CBS News White House correspondent Nancy Cordes “a stupid person” on Thanksgiving, just a day after referring to The New York Times reporter Katie Rogers as “ugly, both inside and out.”
In November, he also drew criticism for snapping “Quiet. Quiet, piggy” at Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey and for calling ABC News’ Mary Bruce “a terrible person and a terrible reporter” as she tried to ask a question about the Epstein files.
Collins has previously spoken up for her colleagues. In a Nov. 18 X post, she wrote in support of Bruce and Lucey, saying, “My colleagues in the White House press corps, @marykbruce and @catherine_lucey, both do a great job.”
