Kaitlan Collins | |
|---|---|
 Collins in 2022 | |
| Born | April 7, 1992 Prattville, Alabama, U.S. |
| Education | University of Alabama (BA) |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, TV anchor |
| Employers |
|
| Known for | The Source with Kaitlan Collins |
Kaitlan Collins (born April 7, 1992)[1][2] is an American journalist who is a news anchor on CNN.[3][4] She is the former co-anchor of CNN This Morning. She is the current host of The Source at 9 p.m. since July 2023. She also served as the network's Chief White House Correspondent from January 2021 until November 2022. Previously, she was the White House correspondent for the website The Daily Caller.[5]
Kaitlan Collins was born in Prattville, Alabama.[1][6] Her father, Jeff Collins Sr., is a mortgage banker.[7] She says that her parents taught her that "the political system in the U.S. is a failed one" and that she does not recall them voting or expressing strong opinions about political candidates.[1]
Collins graduated from Prattville High School and went on to attend the University of Alabama. She initially chose to major in chemistry, before majoring in journalism.[1] She earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science and journalism in May 2014.[6][1] Collins was a member of the Alpha Phi sorority.[6]
After graduating from college, Collins moved to Washington, D.C.[5] In June 2014, she was hired by the website The Daily Caller as an entertainment reporter. After covering the 2016 presidential election, the Daily Caller named her its White House correspondent in January 2017, and she began covering the Trump administration.[8][5]
Collins says she believes in non-partisan, neutral politics and that since the political scene in the U.S. is only about Democrats and Republicans she considers herself apolitical. She is a registered independent.[1]
While she was still with The Daily Caller, Collins was invited to make several appearances on CNN. At a White House correspondent event in spring 2017, she met network president Jeff Zucker and thanked him for having her on despite the ideological nature of her employer at the time. In July 2017, Collins was hired by CNN as part of the team covering presidential news.[8][5] As a member of the press corps, Collins reported on at least half a dozen of Trump's international presidential trips.[8][9]
Collins was involved in a notable incident with the Trump administration on July 25, 2018, when she attended a photo op in the Oval Office as the day's pool reporter. As the event concluded, Collins asked Trump a series of questions about Vladimir Putin and about Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen. Trump ignored her questions.[8][10] Collins was subsequently barred from a Trump administration press conference in the White House Rose Garden that afternoon[11] and was told by senior White House officials that such questions were "inappropriate for that venue."[12][13] Trump's press secretary Sarah Sanders said that Collins had "shouted questions and refused to leave,"[12] while Trump's advisor Kellyanne Conway said that the action was about "being polite."[14] Trump's deputy chief of staff for communications, Bill Shine, objected to the characterization of the White House's action as a "ban" but "declined to tell reporters what word he would use to characterize the White House’s decision to block her from attending the event."[14] CNN stated that Collins' ban was "retaliatory" and "not indicative of an open and free press." The White House Correspondents Association called the ban "wholly inappropriate, wrong-headed, and weak."[12][14] Jay Wallace, president of Fox News, issued a statement in support of Collins, saying that his organization "[stood] in strong solidarity with CNN for the right to full access for our journalists as part of a free and unfettered press."[12]
Collins was the CNN White House correspondent for a large part of the written and televised live coverage of the 2020 election, and was subsequently promoted to chief White House correspondent for the incoming Biden administration on January 11, 2021.[15] At a briefing that took place a few weeks after the election, then-White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany refused to take a question from Collins and called her an "activist".[16] At 28, she was the youngest chief White House correspondent in CNN's history,[8] and one of the youngest chief correspondents for a major media network.[17]
On September 15, 2022, CNN announced that Collins would move to co-anchoring a revamped CNN morning show with Don Lemon and Poppy Harlow, ending her tenure as chief White House correspondent.[18] On October 12, 2022, CNN announced that the morning show would be named CNN This Morning.[19]
Collins moderated a town hall event with Donald Trump on May 10, 2023. The event included questions from Republican primary voters in New Hampshire. [20][21]
On May 17, 2023, Collins was named CNN's new 9 p.m. ET host, with her program scheduled to begin in June. She departed from CNN This Morning on May 25, 2023,[22] with her role being filled by a rotating series of CNN anchors.[23]
On July 5, 2023, it was announced that Collins' new 9 p.m. program would be titled The Source with Kaitlan Collins. The show premiered on July 10.[24] She has been hosting this prime time hourly show on weekdays between Anderson Cooper 360° and CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip.
