CNN’s Kaitlan Collins addressed criticism over moderating a 2023 town hall with Donald Trump, emphasizing that her role wasn’t to undermine the former president. During an appearance on Hasan Minhaj’s podcast, he questioned whether the event aimed to recapture Republican viewers who had turned away from CNN. Collins, 33, dismissed this notion, highlighting CNN’s history of hosting town halls with various presidential candidates both before and after the event.

“Trump was evidently gearing up for another presidential run,” Collins clarified, asserting her duty to cover such developments, despite the heated 70-minute exchange that ensued with Trump, drawing some backlash. She argued that Trump’s prominent position as the Republican frontrunner was undeniable. When questioned about whether the event was meant to ‘challenge’ or ‘appeal to’ CNN’s audience, Collins stated that her focus was solely on challenging Trump, fact-checking, and scrutinizing his claims.

Minhaj also inquired if the applause from Trump supporters in the audience rattled her. Collins responded by noting that not everyone was cheering and that many were silently disapproving of his remarks. She suggested these mixed reactions hinted at the dynamic political landscape ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Reflecting on the moment, Collins remarked, “People thought Trump was politically finished, unable to make a comeback after his tumultuous exit from office. Yet, the reality was more complex.”

‘And actually what that moment showed was there was still a lot of support for Donald Trump. And I think it was jarring for some people to remember that, maybe, and to see that. ‘But that was reality, and like our job is not to sanitize things and say, “Well, this is what you want the narrative to be,” or, “This is what you want to happen.” ‘Our job is just to cover it as it happens and to show you what that was, and I think that town hall showed people that, like, my job is like not to take down Trump. I’m a reporter and an anchor.’

The event in Manchester, New Hampshire, thrust Collins into the national spotlight. She pressed Trump on claims surrounding the January 6 insurrection and the 2020 presidential election being rigged against him, as well as his keeping of documents within his Mar-a-Lago home after leaving the White House following his loss to Joe Biden. Trump insulted Collins at one point during the conversation, calling her a ‘nasty person.’

Two months after the town hall, Collins took over the coveted primetime slot vacated by Chris Cuomo. She was named the network’s Chief White House Correspondent in November 2024, as part of a broader plan to overhaul CNN’s political coverage, Semafor reported at the time. The shift reportedly sought to lean into the spectacle of Trump ‘s second presidency, as opposed to shying away from it.

Collins was initially a White House reporter for CNN during Trump’s first term, where she was barred from a Trump press conference after asking a series of questions about Russian President Vladimir Putin . She also worked for three years as a Trump-era White House reporter for the right-leaning Daily Caller. Her salary is in the millions, sources told Puck in June, noting that her annual take-home is roughly ‘a fifth’ of Anderson Coope r’s $18 million-a-year compensation.