CNN Anchor Kaitlan Collins' List Of Enemies Keeps Growing

Kaitlan Collins has never been afraid of speaking her mind or pushing back on those who disagree with her, so it doesn't come as a surprise that she's made a few enemies during her journalistic career. After graduating from the University of Alabama, the political commentator joined The Daily Caller as an entertainment reporter in 2014. She soon caught the eyes of CNN execs, who invited her to join the staff in 2017, and she is now the anchor of "The Source with Kaitlan Collins," as well as the network's chief White House correspondent.

Collins' history with the White House is a bit precarious, as she was once banned from attending a press conference with Donald Trump after probing him with questions about Vladimir Putin and the president's former attorney Michael Cohen, per CNN. Since then, Trump and Collins have verbally sparred several times, and he's just one of the many public figures who is not a fan of the political commentator.

It's safe to say that Donald Trump is not a fan of Kaitlan Collins at all, and their feud didn't end after the CNN anchor was disinvited from the White House Rose Garden event in 2018. Things got heated again between them in 2023 during CNN's Republican Town Hall. As shared by The Wall Street Journal, the topic of the FBI raid at Donald's Mar-a-Lago house in 2022 came up, which caused Collins to question him about his lack of cooperation with the feds. The former "Apprentice" star got visibly frustrated and replied, "Are you ready? Are you ready? Can I talk? You mind? Do you mind? Okay, it's very simple to answer ... you are a nasty person."

After Collins demonstrated that she can't stand Donald Trump Jr. either, she and his dad got into another spat in January 2025 during a press conference where Donald fielding questions about the horrific D.C. plane crash, per the New York Post. "We don't yet know the names of the 67 people [who] were killed, and you are blaming Democrats and DEI policies and air traffic control, and seemingly the member of the U.S. military who was flying the Black Hawk helicopter. Don't you think you're getting ahead of the investigation right now?" Collins asked the president. She continued, "Does it comfort their family to hear you blaming DEI policies?" Donald then responded, "I think that's not a very smart question. I'm surprised coming from you." At least the second statement could be considered somewhat of a compliment toward Collins.

Megyn Kelly is known for having a shady side, and the outspoken former Fox News host did not hold back on her opinions of fellow political commentator Kaitlan Collins during an August 2024 episode of "The Megyn Kelly Show." Kelly stated, "I will submit to the record, her biggest sin is not that she is biased, though she is, it's that she's boring. She's extremely boring with no personality." 

The attorney added, "I have a pro tip for her: smile. Try smiling every once in a while. Try not to be like, in your delivery, such a cold-hearted b*** all the time, because it gives people nothing to bond to." Kelly once turned down a job at CNN, and during her Collins-bashing segment, she proceeded to complain about the network trying to turn the other journalist into "a star" — which it presumably would have also done for Kelly if she had accepted its offer.

Kelly's dislike of Collins remained obvious when she made another dig at her during "The Megan Kelly Show" on January 31, 2025. While playing a clip of the president dissing Collins during the D.C. plane crash press conference, Kelly, whose strange relationship with Donald Trump got weirder when she publicly endorsed him despite him calling her "nasty" in 2023, simply stated with a smirk, "Good for him."

Prior to landing her own show, "The Source" on CNN, Kaitlan Collins co-hosted "CNN This Morning" with Don Lemon and Poppy Harlow. Unfortunately, things got a little hairy between Collins and Lemon in February 2023 when the former CNN anchor was said to have screamed at his co-host for supposedly cutting him off on camera, per the New York Post. According to an insider, Collins was so rattled that she exited the set quickly, and a producer told Lemon to take some downtime for a personal day. "At this point, Kaitlan wants to be on set with Don as little as possible. It's messy," a source shared.

Lemon's on-set behavior has caused trouble more than once in his career, and amid many reports of Lemon being difficult to work with, CNN fired the news anchor that following April. Despite their reported feud, Collins kept it classy and addressed her former co-star's exit by stating on the show (via People), "He was one of the first anchors on CNN to have me on his show. That's something I'll obviously never forget. I agree with [CNN CEO] Chris [Licht]. We wish him the best."

In a media moment President Donald Trump could never erase, he seemingly danced around the topic of whether or not he denounced white supremacy in 2020, which propelled Kaitlan Collins to ask the then-White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany (whose replacement, Karoline Leavitt, is her wannabe), to clarify during a briefing. As reported by CNN, Collins asked McEnany why the controversial far-right group the Proud Boys celebrated Trump's statement about white supremacy. "I don't speak for that group, so I'm not sure why you're asking me why they are saying a certain thing," McEnany shot back. "If someone denounced you, you probably wouldn't put it on a T-shirt and make badges of it, right?" Collins pressed. McEnany insisted she or Trump didn't know who the Proud Boys were and tried to move on from the topic, but the CNN anchor didn't let up.

A month later, McEnany gave a briefing where she resolutely ignored all of Collins' questions, per CNN. "Kayleigh, why can't you call on all of us?" Collins asked. In response, McEnany quipped, "I don't call on activists," before hurrying out of the room. That didn't stop the White House correspondent from calling after her, "I am not an activist, and you didn't take questions since October 1st and just took about five, Kayleigh. That's not doing your job. Your taxpayer-funded job." Collins was clearly frustrated at being brushed off, but sadly, all she got was a cold shoulder from McEnany.