Donald Trump tore into CNN host Kaitlan Collins after she grilled one of the president’s favorite lawmakers over tariffs in a recent interview.
‘Senator Mark Wayne Mullin was great on Fake News CNN,’ Trump posted on his Truth Social app Thursday morning.
‘Made Caitlin Collins look like the third rate, low ratings reporter, she is!,’ Trump said in a stinging note purposefully misspelling the journalist’s name.
During the Wednesday night interview, Collins and the Republican senator from Oklahoma sparred over Trump’s tariff plans.
‘What you just said is important, that a tariff is a tax and it is passed on to consumers,’ the TV host said.
‘Of course it is,’ Mullin confirmed. ‘Everybody knows that.’
Collins charged: ‘That is something the White House does not acknowledge.’
‘No, that is something that the president, who as a business person, understands that completely,’ Mullin argued.
‘No one understands the economy better than this president. There hasn’t been a president that understands this economy better than this president.’
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Olka., with CNN host Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday night
Trump speaks with journalists at a White House event with cable news hosts earlier this month. Collins can be seen in the conversation wearing red
Trump and Collins shake hands as Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt watches
The commander-in-chief’s harsh review of Collins come just a week after dining with the CNN host face-to-face at a lunch event for network news anchors.
Images of the intimate event show the 32-year-old dressed in a red pantsuit socializing with the president.
While seated for lunch, however, Collins was placed at the end of the table, the furthest position from the president.
Seated directly next to the Republican were Fox News‘ Bret Baier and Today Show host Savannah Guthrie.
Trump has a notoriously prickly relationship with Collins and CNN.
Last month Collins and Trump sparred in the Oval Office over tariffs.
‘Mr. President, you won the White House in part because of high inflation, if your tariffs make prices go up…’ Collins said before Trump cut her off.
‘Excuse me. We haven’t asked you to speak yet, please,’ the president quipped.
Newly-appointed CNN White House Correspondent, Kaitlan Collins (pictured) sparred with President Donald Trump as he revealed plans to ‘take-over’ the demolished Gaza Strip
Trump then allowed the question and answer portion of the signing to start, opting for a reporter other than Collins to kick it off.
When it was finally Collins’ turn, she asked, ‘So Americans should prepare for some short-term pain?’
‘No, you said that. I didn’t say that,’ Trump replied. ‘We’ll see what happens. Nobody really knows what is going to happen.’
The 32-year-old pressed the president earlier this year during a press conference he held with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and announced the U.S. would take control of Gaza following the war.
‘Where exactly are you suggesting that they should go?’ Collins probed the top-ranking politician in front of a full audience at the White House event.
‘And two, are you saying they should return after it’s rebuilt? And if not, who do you envision living there?’ she added.
During the presidential campaign, Collins asked Trump during a town hall about a classified document case in Florida which has since been dissolved.
‘You’re a nasty person, I tell ya,’ Trump told Collins as the two were on stage.
The audience at the CNN town hall received his outburst well and began laughing.
Trump argued he ‘had every right’ to the documents.
