Meghan McCain is asking for CNN Chief White Home Correspondent Kaitlan Collins to have her press credentials revoked, calling her an “absolute imbecile” and a “pure partisan hack” following a tense trade throughout a White Home press briefing.
McCain’s criticism comes after Collins clashed with Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday.
“Kaitlan Collins is an absolute imbecile and a pure partisan hack,” the podcast host and conservative commentator wrote on her X account on Wednesday.
“Have some respect for the two women standing in front of you who are exposing lies, deep corruption and keeping the country safe. The White House should pull her credentials.”
Throughout the briefing, Gabbard launched a brand new trove of declassified paperwork meant to assist President Donald Trump’s long-standing accusation that former President Barack Obama and his prime officers dedicated “treason” by manipulating intelligence associated to Russia’s involvement within the 2016 election.
Collins pressed Gabbard, suggesting political motivation behind the timing of the discharge and referencing previous Trump criticisms of Gabbard’s intelligence assessments — notably as they relate to Iran’s nuclear program.
Trump dismissed Gabbard’s assertion earlier this yr that the Iranian authorities was not pursuing nuclear weapons.
The president ordered the bombing of Iranian nuclear services.
“What would you say to people who believe that you’re only releasing these documents now to improve your standing with the president after he said that your intelligence assessments were wrong?” Collins requested.
Leavitt swiftly interjected and Gabbard rejected the premise of the query.
“First, I want to correct something that you stated, which was citing the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report as being one and the same. I think you said the intelligence community,” Gabbard stated.
“The Senate Intelligence Committee has a very different function than the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The evidence and the intelligence that has been declassified and released is irrefutable. I’m going to let Caroline speak to Secretary Rubio.”
Leavitt expanded on that time, criticizing the earlier intelligence narrative and defending the administration.
Each morning, the NY POSTcast presents a deep dive into the headlines with the Publish’s signature mixture of politics, enterprise, popular culture, true crime and the whole lot in between. Subscribe right here!
“The only people who are suggesting that the director of national intelligence would release evidence to try to boost her standing with the president are the people in this room who constantly try to sow distrust and chaos amongst the president’s cabinet. And it is not working,” Leavitt stated.
“I am with the President of the United States every day,” she added. “He has the utmost confidence in Director Gabbard. He always has. He continues to, and that is true of his entire cabinet, who is all working as one team to deliver on the promises this president made.”
Collins stood her floor and doubled down. “Who has said that? Well, the president has publicly undermined her when it came to Iran. He said she was wrong. He told me that she didn’t know what she was talking about. That was on Air Force One, on camera,” Collins stated.
McCain was not impressed, rapidly responding on-line with a harsh rebuke.
The previous co-host of “The View” and daughter of the late Sen. John McCain has in recent times gone from a vocal critic of Gabbard to an ally.
On the middle of the trade was a years-long dispute over Russian interference within the 2016 election and the origins of the collusion narrative.
Throughout the briefing, Collins requested Gabbard: “Are you saying that [Marco Rubio] is wrong in that statement that he made then?” referring to a 2017 report signed by Rubio and different Senate Republicans stating that whereas no collusion was discovered, Russia had meddled within the election.
Leavitt responded: “We found irrefutable evidence of Russian meddling, which the director of national intelligence just confirmed for all of you that Russia was trying to sow distrust and chaos.”
“But what’s the outrage in this… is the fact that the intelligence community was concocting this narrative that the president colluded with the Russians… all of these lies that were never true.”
She continued by referencing the discredited Steele file: “The president’s son was holding secret meetings with the Russian, all of these lies… It was cooked up and paid for by the Clinton campaign.”
The Publish has sought remark from CNN.
Collins’ confrontational questioning model has repeatedly drawn pushback from Trump officers.
In April, she pressed Trump within the Oval Workplace over the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia regardless of a Supreme Court docket order, prompting Trump to accuse her of missing credibility and dismiss CNN as biased.
Trump has ceaselessly interrupted or excluded Collins from occasions, together with a extensively criticized incident in 2018 the place she was barred from protecting a White Home press occasion after urgent on Russia-related questions.
The adversarial dynamic has prolonged past the Oval Workplace.
Throughout a CNN city corridor in New Hampshire, Collins’ aggressive questioning led Trump to name her a “nasty person.”
