US President Donald Trump reprimanded a CNN journalist Tuesday for covering his appearance at the UN in New York after his administration barred the network alongside two other prominent media outlets from White House grounds.
“All of the sleazebags, like third rate ‘reporter,’ Kaitlan Collins, of fake news CNN, a truly unhappy person, said they weren’t going to be covering me,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, questioning why media representatives were “ranting and raving” in the press section at the United Nations General Assembly.
The online broadside followed a direct verbal exchange earlier Tuesday at UN headquarters, where Collins questioned Trump regarding when the Iran war would end. Trump pushed back immediately, telling Collins: “You should not be here covering me. You said you weren’t going to cover me. You shouldn’t be covering me.”
Collins countered that the UN independently credentialed and granted her organization access to cover the 81st General Assembly high-level debate.
Addressing the dispute further online, Trump asserted that news organizations maintain an “addiction” to his presidency, adding that network personnel were “sick, treasonous, and demented.”
The confrontation follows the Trump administration’s decision to revoke press access and ban journalists representing CNN, Politico and MS NOW from attending briefings and working inside the White House complex.
Media companies have contested the credential revocations in court, sparking ongoing legal challenges over executive authority and press freedoms in Washington.