Kaitlan Collins Reveals What It Was Like In The Room During Trump’s Rambling WHCD Speech

CNN’s chief White House reporter Kaitlan Collins wasn’t surprised when the president targeted her during his White House Correspondents’ Association dinner speech on Friday.

“That happens pretty regularly inside the Oval Office,” Collins told Jon Stewart on Monday’s “Daily Show.” “This is just a bigger venue where it was happening. What was most surprising to me was the room was filled with a lot of his staffers, his Cabinet, his allies, Republicans in Congress. It was so quiet in the room during the president’s remarks.”

Stewart commended Collins for her trademark unflappability in the face of personal attacks from Donald Trump, and for the straightforward questions she asks the president.

“That’s why I ask the questions the way I do,” Collins said. “Is because I want anyone to be able to listen to what I’m asking, whether that’s at a briefing or during a moment with the president, and think, you know, ‘I want to know the answer to that too’ or ’That is a good question.’”

“Well, the answer is very clearly you should smile more,” Stewart said, sarcastically referencing Trump’s attack on Collins at the dinner.

Stewart then asked Collins how she maintains such a calm demeanor in the face of Trump’s insults.

“It’s really not about me, and I don’t want it to be about my reaction, and so I think if you let it become about that, then it becomes a back and forth between the two of us,” Collins said.

She noted that it was more important to keep the focus on the substance of the questions she asks and the “non-answers” he often gives.

Watch Collins’ full interview with Stewart from Monday night’s show here: