Mystery as CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Misses Show After Trump Ban

CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins was absent from her own program Friday night, just hours after President Donald Trump announced that he was barring both her and the network from the White House.

Collins had not issued a public response to the move by Friday evening. Her most recent social media post was a report on Trump’s comments about the decision during remarks in the Oval Office.

The journalist was subsequently missing from The Source, her CNN program that airs at 9 p.m. Eastern time. She had presented the show the previous evening.

Collins has frequently drawn Trump’s criticism. The president has described her questions as “dumb” and previously suggested that she should “smile more.”

CNN has responded by retaining prominent First Amendment lawyer Ted Boutros.

“CNN stands fully behind our White House team and their fair and accurate reporting without hindrance or interference from the government,” the network said.

“Should the ban which President Trump threatened go ahead, it would be an illegal assault on that fundamental and constitutionally-protected right.”

Although Collins has yet to address the controversy publicly, other CNN journalists have spoken out. Jake Tapper opened his Friday program with a forceful criticism of Trump’s directive.

CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins was absent from her program Friday night, hours after President Donald Trump barred the network from the White House.

Trump acknowledged during his Oval Office remarks that there was no single event behind the ban

“President Trump’s definition of what is ‘fake’ has been pretty clearly established as any stories he does not like,” Tapper said at the beginning of his broadcast.

He noted that Trump had singled out Breitbart and Fox News as fair outlets, saying both organizations regularly publish coverage favorable to him.

“One suspects that the real issue is now CNN or how CNN covers the news. One suspects the issue is the facts he does not like — facts, stubborn things that are leading to rough forecasts for the president’s party in November,” Tapper said.

He cited several examples, including record-high diesel prices, voters’ concerns about the cost of living, Trump’s poor approval and disapproval numbers, and Republicans publicly distancing themselves from him on the campaign trail.

Tapper also pointed out that Trump appeared to suggest the White House could target additional media organizations after calling The New York Times and The Washington Post “fake” and “disgusting.”

“If there is any strategy to this — and it’s not clear that there is — it is that the president would rather today’s focus be about this unconstitutional tantrum than about any of the facts that we cover every day,” Tapper said.

“That is not going to happen no matter how hard he tries,” he added. “He cannot ban what I’m saying to you right now.”

Tapper compared the situation with the Pentagon’s decision, under War Secretary Pete Hegseth, to remove certain news organizations from its press access. He said the reporting continued because “the facts are what they are” — including a stalemate in Iran, at least 18 service members killed in the Iran action, depleted munitions and unresolved questions about Iranian civilians, including children, who were killed.

“The Pentagon ban did not work. This one will not either,” Tapper said, promising that CNN would continue covering the news.

Jake Tapper began his Friday night broadcast with a blistering response to Trump’s order

Tapper also addressed Trump’s suggestion that the ban could be reversed if CNN, MS NOW and Politico “straighten” themselves out.

“If that means covering the president with adulation, that’s not our job,” he said.

“And ‘straighten,’ when you think about it, is not really the term he wants. He doesn’t want to ‘straighten’; he wants the news to bend. He wants the news to warp around his views, his desires and what he wants covered.”

Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump said there was no specific incident that prompted the timing of the ban. Instead, he described it as the result of an accumulation of stories over several years that he had grown tired of.

“Maybe they can get better, and we’d like to have them in,” Trump said. “Somebody has got to keep them away.”

Earlier, he wrote on Truth Social: “Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America. Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”

Reporters gathered near “Pebble Beach” on the White House’s north side after news emerged that Trump planned to bar several outlets

When a reporter asked which organizations might be next, Trump named The New York Times and The Washington Post.

“They’re crummy papers. Both doing poorly, by the way,” he said.

“We’re probably not going to display the paper anymore in the White House. We haven’t taken the step of throwing them out,” Trump added.

As word spread through the White House, reporters were heard questioning whether the move was merely a “Trump hissy fit” or an actual policy decision.

By Friday night, however, CNN and Politico had issued statements defending their journalists.

“POLITICO will continue to fairly report on this White House and future ones,” the outlet said.

“We will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights against any attempt to restrict them. The claims that POLITICO received government subsidies are false and have been thoroughly debunked,” the statement continued.

Several news organizations and press freedom groups have also voiced support for the journalists affected by the decision.

“The president said it plainly in the Oval Office, describing his own planned action as a ‘ban on the free press,’” Jacqui Heinrich, president of the White House Correspondents Association, said in a statement.

“The Constitution protects the freedom of the press from government interference. That protection does not depend on whether the president likes a news organization’s coverage, agrees with its reporting, or approves of the questions its journalists ask.”

Trump attended the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in July

“This is about more than the rights of journalists. It is about the right of the American people to receive a full and independent account of the activities, policies and decisions of whoever occupies the nation’s highest office.

“The WHCA stands in defense of our colleagues at CNN, MSNOW and Politico who are being singled out for doing their jobs.”

National Press Club President Mark Schoeff Jr. likewise condemned the president’s decision.

“Banning news organizations from the White House based on the administration’s disapproval of their coverage is a clear attempt to control which voices are allowed to witness and report on the exercise of presidential power,” he said.

“Every American should understand what is at stake,” Schoeff continued. “If implemented, this ban would mark an unprecedented assault on press freedom.”

“The National Press Club calls on the president to reverse this declaration immediately.”

Schoeff said the move was part of what he called Trump’s “relentless and disturbing effort to bully the news media.” He pointed to the earlier attempt to restrict access for Associated Press reporters after the organization declined to adopt the president’s preferred name for the Gulf of America.

“This simply can’t happen in a democracy that has depended on a free and independent press to cover the country’s leaders for 250 years,” he said.

“The First Amendment does not permit the government to pick and choose which journalists are allowed to do their jobs,” Schoeff added.

“When the president of the United States bars credentialed news organizations from access to his administration, he weakens one of the nation’s strongest checks on those who hold power.

“A government confident in its actions should never fear independent scrutiny,” he said.

“A free press exists to ask difficult questions, uncover uncomfortable facts and inform the American people. By barring major national news outlets from the White House, the administration is not only attacking individual organizations — it is directly attacking every reporter’s constitutionally protected right to hold power to account, regardless of political party.

“The scrutiny a president receives from the White House press corps benefits readers, viewers and listeners across the country, giving Americans a clearer understanding of government policies.

“The message today’s action sends is alarming,” Schoeff concluded. “It tells other news organizations to soften their coverage. It tells reporters to think twice before asking difficult questions or risk losing access. And it leaves the American people knowing less about the government that serves them.”

The Daily Mail has contacted CNN for comment.