President Donald Trump shut down CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Thursday when she tried to interrupt his executive order signing ceremony in the Oval Office.
Trump had just signed an order directing the imposition of reciprocal tariffs on countries at the same level they charge the U.S., starting after April 1.
“Mr. President you won the White House, in part, because of high inflation. If your tariffs make prices go up …,” Collin said before Trump cut her off.
The president turned to her and said, “Excuse me. We haven’t asked you to speak yet, please.”
🚨🔥CNN’s Kaitlan Collins had to be shut down AGAIN — this time by President Trump.
“Excuse me. We haven’t asked you to speak yet, please.” pic.twitter.com/WMZEN9BAmo
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) February 13, 2025
Soon thereafter, Trump said to the reporters standing in front of him, “Go ahead, please.”
When Collins began to ask her question again, Trump pointed to a different correspondent, instructing him to go ahead.
*Trump signs an Executive Order and displays it*
*CNN Reporter Kaitlan Collins instantly starts yapping*
TRUMP: “Excuse me, we haven’t asked you to speak yet”
*Camera pans slowly back to Trump*
Like a scene out of a TV show🤣
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) February 13, 2025
The president answered that reporter’s question and one more before fielding Collins’ query.
“If prices go up, Mr. President, because of these tariffs, who do you think voters should hold responsible?” she asked.
Trump defended his decision, saying, “I think what’s going to go up is jobs are going to go up, and prices could go up somewhat, short-term, but prices will also go down.”
Farmers and manufacturers are going to be helped under his plan, the chief executive argued.
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“There could be some short-term disturbance, but long term, it’s going to make our country a fortune,” Trump asserted.
“So Americans should plan for some short-term pain?” Collins asked.
“You said that; I didn’t say that,” Trump responded.
“Well, if prices go up …” Collins began.
The president interjected, “We’ll see what happens. Nobody really knows what’s going to happen, other than we know that jobs are going to be produced at levels we’ve never seen before. … We think that interest rates are ultimately going to be coming down.”
Trump’s Commerce Secretary-nominee Howard Lutnick noted during the executive order signing that other countries could respond to the new U.S. reciprocal tariff policy by lowering their tariffs, meaning prices on imports would come down.
Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on Chinese imports during his first term, and the inflation rate when he left office in January 2021 was a low 1.7 percent.
On Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back on Collins after she asked who barred an Associated Press reporter from covering an Oval Office event earlier in the week.
The AP reported that the White House decision came after the news service refused to use the “Gulf of America” to refer to the body of water Trump renamed by executive order from the Gulf of Mexico.
“First of all, let me just set the record straight. It is a privilege to cover this White House. It is a privilege to be the White House press secretary,” Leavitt responded.
“And nobody has the right to go into the Oval Office and ask a president of the United States questions. That is an invitation that is given … We reserve the right to decide who gets to go into the Oval Office, and you all have credentials to be here, including The Associated Press, who is in this briefing room today,” she comtinued.
.@kaitlancollins asks about @AP reporter being barred from the Oval Office.@PressSec: “Nobody has the right to go into the Oval Office and ask the president of the United States questions…We reserve the right to decide who gets to go into the Oval Office.” pic.twitter.com/U7eR63y52G
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 12, 2025
Collins followed up, asking whether the move was “retaliatory in nature.” “The question here is, is this setting a precedent that this White House will retaliate against reporters who don’t use the language you guys believe reporters should use?” she asked.
Leavitt responded, “I was very upfront in my briefing on day one, that if we feel that there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room, we are going to hold those lies accountable.
She added, “And it is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America, and I am not sure why news outlets don’t want to call it that, but that is what it is.”
She went on to note that the Interior Department has recognized the name change, along with Google and Apple maps and most news outlets represented in the briefing room.
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