\n<\/p>\n
Around 15 minutes to airtime, Kaitlan Collins<\/strong> got some breaking news out of the White House. Donald Trump<\/strong>\u2019s team was seeking to clarify his remarks<\/a> earlier that day regarding an executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members, the subject of yet another court fight early in his presidency.<\/p>\n Collins, wearing a vibrant fuchsia suit and pointed-toe nude pumps, read the White House statement aloud at CNN\u2019s Hudson Yards studios, indicating to her production team to quickly integrate it into the top of that evening\u2019s show. CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig,<\/strong> who was seated at a nearby table, preparing to offer his thoughts on the developments for viewers, quipped that the Trump administration\u2019s actions were \u201cstraight out of Veep<\/em>.\u201d Moments later, the crew was counting down, and Collins was on air, opening her 9 p.m. show<\/a> with her signature line \u201cstraight from the source tonight\u201d and the news that Trump was claiming he \u201cdidn\u2019t sign what might be his most controversial order yet.\u201d<\/p>\n Such is life in a Trump news cycle, which Collins, 33, has been steeped in now for nearly a decade. After covering Trump\u2019s 2016 campaign and his early days at the White House for the conservative Daily Caller, Collins decamped to CNN and emerged as one of cable network\u2019s standout correspondents during the first term. Collins, just a few years out of the University of Alabama, showed remarkable composure in challenging Trump during those years and dealing with his \u201cfake news\u201d retorts<\/a>. Jeff Zucker,<\/strong> the former CNN CEO who hired Collins, suggests she may be \u201cthe last great star that cable news produces.\u201d<\/p>\n As the TV news industry contracts, and bloated salaries for star anchors are looking like a thing of<\/a> the past<\/a>, Collins\u2019s multiplatform prowess\u2014breaking news online, doing live hits throughout the day, anchoring at night, and sharing vertical videos<\/a> outside the White House on Instagram\u2014certainly looks like a model for a next-generation cable news star. Collins, who moved<\/a> to New York to cohost the short-lived CNN This Morning,<\/em> has lately been anchoring The Source<\/em> from Washington DC in order to perform her duties as a prime-time anchor and<\/em> as CNN\u2019s recently named<\/a> chief White House correspondent.<\/p>\n It\u2019s in the latter role that she\u2019s continued enduring Trump\u2019s wrath, like when she interjected<\/a> in a February press conference to ask if he trusts Russian president Vladimir Putin.<\/strong> \u201cNobody watches CNN anymore. Because they have no credibility,\u201d he shot back. As Collins tells me, \u201cTrump\u2019s response was to criticize me and then criticize CNN, even though it was a totally legitimate question,\u201d she says, \u201cwhich I think is a distraction technique.\u201d More recently, Trump snapped<\/a> at Collins as she pressed him on Signalgate: \u201cExcuse me, I didn\u2019t pick you.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite public clashes with the 45th and 47th president\u2014or, partly, because of them?\u2014CNN executives have kept Collins front-and-center in the Trump era. Chris Licht,<\/strong> who briefly succeeded Zucker, assigned Collins to moderate an infamous Trump town hall<\/a> in 2023, while current chief Mark Thompson<\/strong> has tasked her with covering the second term. \u201cKaitlan is not just a brilliant prime-time anchor but one of our very best reporters\u2014fair, well-sourced, and not afraid to stand up to anybody,\u201d Thompson says.<\/p>\n Collins recalls the CNN boss telling her that she\u2019d be returning to the White House after the November election.<\/p>\n \u201cI was like, \u2018Oh, for 100 days or something?\u2019\u201d Collins had asked.<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d Thompson replied. \u201cFour years.\u201d<\/p>\n