Trump repeatedly insults CNN’s Kaitlan Collins in Oval Office over deportation of El Salvadoran national: ‘Why can’t you just say that?’
President Trump took several shots at CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins as she peppered him with questions in the Oval Office Monday over the wrongful deportation of an El Salvadoran national who the US Supreme Court ruled should be returned to the United States for now.
Trump repeatedly needled Collins, who is also the network’s White House correspondent, including calling her a “low-rated anchor” and slamming CNN’s credibility as he took questions alongside El Salvador President Nayib Bukele.
Collins wanted answers about the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was removed to the Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT), the Central American country’s hellhole mega-prison, last month under the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act.
The Trump administration has claimed Abrego Garcia was a member of the violent MS-13 gang, but the US Supreme Court directed the White House to “facilitate” his release from the prison on April 10.
When Collins first prodded Trump about the issue, he pointed to CNN’s less-than-stellar ratings before passing the baton to Attorney General Pam Bondi to defend the deportation and subsequent actions.
Then Trump tapped homeland security adviser Stephen Miller to speak up while taking another shot at Collins’ employer.
“Can you just also respond to that question because you know it’s asked by CNN and they always ask it with a slant because they’re totally slanted because they don’t know what’s happening,” Trump told Miller.
“That’s why nobody’s watching them.”
Miller, also deputy chief of staff for policy, argued that Abrego Garcia is an El Salvador native, a suspected member of the notorious gang — which his family has denied — and was in the US illegally.
He called it “arrogant” for media members to expect the US would tell El Salvador how to handle its own citizens.
An undeterred Collins continued to query Trump about Abrego Garcia, including referencing that Trump said a day earlier he would abide by the Supreme Court’s decision.
But Trump was having none of it.
“How long do we have to answer this question? Why don’t you just say, ‘Isn’t it wonderful that we’re keeping criminals out of our country’? Why can’t you just say that? Why do you go over and over — and that’s why nobody watches you anymore. You have no credibility.”
While a Trump administration lawyer stated in a March 31 filing that Abrego Garcia’s removal was due to an “administrative error,” Miller denied that assertion and said the Justice Department attorney who submitted the paperwork made a mistake and has since been removed.
In 2019, an immigration judge stopped the feds from removing Abrego Garcia while his asylum application was under review. The married father claimed he could face persecution from gangs in his native country if he were to be shipped back there.
The Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s opinion about arranging Abrego Garcia’s return to the States, but did not impose a deadline on when he should be back by passing the case back to the lower court judge.
The administration in a Sunday filing argued that the US does not need to press El Salvador for the release of Abrego Garcia.?
