In a tense exchange at the White House, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt clashed with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins during a briefing on Wednesday. The confrontation arose as Collins questioned the administration’s stance on media coverage following the deaths of six U.S. service members in a drone strike by Iran, a consequence of former President Donald Trump’s actions in the Middle East.

Collins probed Leavitt, referencing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s remarks that criticized media outlets for their focus on the tragic incident. She inquired about whether the administration preferred that the press downplay such casualties in Trump’s military engagements.

Leavitt, maintaining a firm tone, rebutted the suggestion, stating, “That’s not what the secretary said, Kaitlan… and you know it.” She accused the media, and Collins in particular, of skewing the administration’s words to damage President Trump’s reputation.

Collins responded calmly, asserting, “I don’t think covering troop deaths is trying to make the president look bad.” This exchange highlights the ongoing tension between the Trump administration and the media over the portrayal of military actions and their consequences.

‘You and your network know that you take every single thing this administration says and try to use it to make the president look bad.’

Collins added, ‘I don’t think covering troop deaths is trying to make the president look bad.’

Leavitt shot back, ‘If you’re trying to argue right now that CNN’s overwhelming coverage is not negative of President Trump, I think the American people would tend to disagree, and your ratings would tend to disagree with that as well.’

Hegseth had earlier accused journalists of trying to ‘make the president look bad’ by drawing attention to the troop deaths, which occurred days after Trump launched ‘Operation Epic Fury.’ 

Collins asked whether the administration believes the press should avoid prominently covering the deaths of troops in Trump’s war in the Middle East

Karoline Leavitt lost her cool with CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday at a White House press briefing

Earlier in the day, Pete Hegseth blasted media outlets for highlighting the deaths of six US service members killed in an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait

Leavitt, 28, and Collins, 33, have a long history of battling in the press briefing room in front of the cameras.

Collins has covered Trump’s presidency and his three presidential campaigns for nearly a decade. 

Her pointed questioning has repeatedly blown up into on-camera confrontations over Trump’s foreign and domestic policy.  

She grilled Leavitt in November over Trump’s description of a video featuring six Democratic lawmakers telling members of the military and intelligence community: ‘You can refuse illegal orders.’ 

At the time, Leavitt told reporters several times that the lawmakers – all veterans – were urging the military to refuse ‘lawful orders.’

Collins quizzed Leavitt again in December over the President’s economic record, with Leavitt insisting the press corps was going harder on her than it had on her predecessors during Joe Biden’s tenure.  

The feuds play out against the backdrop of Warner Bros Discovery, CNN’s parent company, being sold to Paramount – with Trump having previously expressed his desire to see Collins’ employer offloaded as part of the deal. 

Despite their adversarial relationship, Leavitt has defended Collins from Saudi authorities during overseas presidential trips. 

Karoline Leavitt takes questions during a news briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on Wednesday

Leavitt holds a press briefing at the White House on Wednesday

Six American soldiers are dead because of Donald Trump’s war in the Middle East

Collins was nearly barred from a press event in Saudi Arabia after an awkward exchange with Trump in front of the country’s leader, only for Leavitt to intervene on her behalf. 

‘They famously do not like the media there,’ Collins said in an interview with the Absolutely Not Podcast in February.

After the officials left the room, Collins said the ‘Saudi Royal Guard kind of freaked out because I dared to ask a question.’ 

‘They’re not used to that there, because they don’t have a free press,’ she explained.

Moments later, she was informed she would not be allowed into the next event because of her actions.

White House staff noticed the confrontation and ran to Leavitt, who stepped in to save Collins.

‘To her credit, she said: ‘No, Kaitlan is coming in with the rest of the US press.”

‘I do think its important in that moment, especially when you’re kind of the US contingent abroad, and we don’t do things like they do in Saudi Arabia,’ Collins added.

Among the most vital pieces of weaponry in the US arsenal is the Thaad antimissile system, which are stationed across the globe to monitor and track pontial incoming missiles

Iran retaliated to the US and Israeli strikes with a barrage of missiles at neighboring nations – some of which broke through air defense systems (seen in Dubai) 

This US Navy handout photo released by US Central Command public affairs

Trump’s war with Iran has spiraled into a wider regional conflict after Tehran unleashed retaliatory strikes across the Middle East. 

Iranian missiles and drones have targeted US military bases, Israel, and several Gulf nations following the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.

The US and Israel were preparing to ramp up bombing missions over Iran on Wednesday as Hegseth vowed ‘we’re just getting started.’ 

‘Four days in we have only just begun,’ Hegseth said. ‘Now with complete control of the skies, we will be using 500-pound, 1,000-pound and 2,000-pound GPS and laser-guided precision gravity bombs of which we have a nearly unlimited stockpile.’

Hegseth said the US had opened the campaign with ‘exquisite standoff munitions,’ sophisticated long-range weapons designed to strike from beyond the reach of enemy air defenses.

He said those munitions were no longer needed, pushing back at reports of stretched supplies with the assurance that ‘our stockpile of those remains extremely strong.’

A US submarine sunk an Iranian warship with a torpedo off the coast of Sri Lanka overnight, the first time such an attack has been launched since WWII. Some 148 men are presumed to have drowned.

Hegseth also claimed that the leader of a unit that had attempted to Trump had been ‘hunted down and killed’.

Trump’s war in the Middle East has triggered a dramatic collapse in his approval ratings, the latest Daily Mail/J.L. Partners poll shows.