“I wasn’t a part of it, and, you know, I’m not gonna speculate more than what the president has already talked about and those who’ve been involved have talked about, but I’d love to talk about the veterans,” Sec. Collins said following Kaitlan Collins’s attempt to get him to call the Signal mess a “mistake.”
CNN’s chief White House correspondent did not appear to appreciate the secretary’s answer and tried to push him on the group chat leak by asking if cabinet members typically use Signal.
.@SecVetAffairs torches Fake News CNN’s @kaitlancollins: “Since you undoubtedly don’t want to talk about the VA … I would like to know why CNN is hostile to veterans — especially one in Florida, where you just had a $5 million defamation suit…” pic.twitter.com/fwnkeg10Zn
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 27, 2025
“Since you undoubtedly don’t want to talk about the VA, I have a question as VA secretary,” Sec. Collins replied. “My job is to take care of veterans, and I would like to know why CNN is hostile to veterans.”
“Especially one in Florida, where you just had a $5 million defamation suit taking offense at a veteran who was trying to help people. In fact, one of your employees actually said, ‘We’re gonna nail him.’ I have a question for you Kaitlan, is that employee still employed?”
The secretary’s question appears to refer to a January decision that saw a Florida jury find that CNN defamed Navy veteran Zachary Young with an on-air report featuring his business.
Young was awarded $4 million in lost business damages and $1 million in personal damages.
“Are you really concerned about veterans?” Sec. Collins asked. “So, if we don’t want to talk about veterans, now, you want to talk about everything else, I’d like to hear from CNN, as the veteran cabinet secretary, why CNN seems to have a problem with veterans.”
Kaitlan Collins said she has a lot of questions about veterans but made one last attempt at the Signal angle.
“Respectfully, I’m conducting the investigation,” she said.
The secretary did not take the bait.
CNN FOUND GUILTY OF DEFAMING NAVY VETERAN IN NEWS SEGMENT OF AFGHAN REFUGEES
“No, Kaitlan, what you wanna do is you wanna talk about a subject that I’ve already answered, and if you wanna continue this like this, that’s fine, but there are VA employees who are working very hard,” he said.
“There are veterans who get their care from the VA, and they get their benefits from the VA, and it does me no good to speculate on something that I’ve asked and answered. So, I’ve asked and answered your question. Why don’t you answer mine?”
