Kaitlan Collins is moderating a town hall event with Donald Trump on May 10, 2023.
The veteran White House correspondent, 31, has clashed with the former president in the past.
But the two will both be at the event at New Hampshire‘s St. Anselm College.
But who is Kaitlan Collins, where has she worked, and what is her history with Donald Trump?
The veteran White House correspondent, 31, will moderate the town hall with Donald Trump
Kaitlan Collins attempts to ask a question as Donald Trump leads the daily coronavirus response briefing at the White House on March 26, 2020
The journalist, 31, shares parts of her social and personal life online
Who is Kaitlan Collins?
Kaitlan Collins was born on April 7, 1992, making her 31-years-old.
She was raised in Prattville, Alabama. She said she had an apolitical upbringing.
She attended the University of Alabama and majored in journalism, earning her Bachelor of Arts in 2014. Collins was a member of Alpha Phi sorority.
Collins started her career in journalism soon after leaving college, and has worked her way up to being one of CNN’s breakfast show anchors.
Kaitlan Collins is seen (right) hosting CNN This Morning – a role she was given in 2022
She attended the University of Alabama and majored in journalism, earning her Bachelor of Arts in 2014. Collins was a member of Alpha Phi sorority
What are her career highlights?
After college, she moved to Washington DC and was an entertainment reporter for The Daily Caller – which is a news and opinion website that was founded by Tucker Carlson.
She was named the website’s White House correspondent in January 2017 after covering the 2016 presidential election.
She began networking within the realm of the White House press corps, and was interviewed and hired to join the politics team at CNN in July 2017.
As part of her job, she traveled with Donald Trump to half a dozen countries during his tenure as president.
Collins at a press conference between Donald Trump and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the East Room of the White House on February 13, 2017
President Joe Biden walks past reporters and photographers, including CNN’s Kaitlan Collins in August 2022
She was once barred from a Trump administration press conference for asking ‘inappropriate’ questions to the then-president.
Collins was the CNN White House correspondent for the 2020 presidential election, and was promoted to a chief position for the incoming Biden administration. She was just 28-years-old.
In September 2022, CNN announced she would be co-anchoring a new morning show with Don Lemon and Poppy Harlow.
Lemon sensationally left CNN in April after a series of sexist comments and remarks that were made on air that were deem inappropriate.
He allegedly ‘screamed’ at Collins off air after he accused her of interrupting him.
Lemon was moved from CNN following months of boiling tensions.
On May 1, 2023, Collins was chosen to moderate a town hall event with Donald Trump.
Collins was the CNN White House correspondent for the 2020 presidential election
After college, she moved to Washington DC and was an entertainment reporter for The Daily Caller – which is a news and opinion website that was founded by Tucker Carlson
When is her CNN showdown with Donald Trump?
The former president is scheduled to appear at New Hampshire’s St. Anselm College 8pm ET for a showdown with Kaitlan Collins, a CNN reporter he has clashed with multiple times in the past.
The guests for what will be Trump’s first appearance on the network since 2016 are all set to vote Republican in the 2024 presidential election.
Trump is the leading contender for the GOP presidential nomination – and a poll this weekend showed him beating President Joe Biden in the general election – but all eyes will be on the former president to watch how he responds to questions about the sexual assault verdict.
He blasted it on Tuesday as part of a witch hunt against him. He has denied Carroll’s charges and says he will appeal.
‘The whole thing is a scam,’ he said in a series of three videos released on Thursday night tearing into the court proceedings.
Collins pictured with her former CNN co-host Don Lemon
What is Kaitlan Collins’ relationship like with Donald Trump?
Donald Trump is being questioned by Collins, who his staff tried to bump from her seat in the White House briefing room years ago – amid tense relations between Trump and the press generally.
The then-president – at one point – banned Collins from one of his appearances in the White House Rose Garden in 2018 when he got upset with her shouted questions in the Oval Office earlier in the day.
In 2019, he mocked the journalist when she pressed him on the US-Mexico border wall.
‘You ran your campaign promising supporters that Mexico is going to pay for the wall,’ Collins began before Trump interrupted her. ‘Oh here we go again,’ he said.
Collins (left) was raised in Prattville, Alabama. She said she had an apolitical upbringing
CNN Morning Anchor Kaitlan Collins and New York Magazine Washington Correspondent Olivia Nuzz
Vice President of Shinola Ruthie Underwood, Kaitlan Collins and Eugene Daniels
‘And that wall was going to be made of concrete,’ Collins continued. ‘You just said earlier that the wall could be made of steel and right now our government is shut down over a demand from your administration that the American taxpayer pay for the wall. So how can you say that you are not failing on that promise to your supporters?’
‘A very nice question so beautifully asked, even though I just answered it,’ Trump replied.
‘I just told you that we just made a trade deal. We will take in billions and billions of dollars, far more than the cost of the wall, he said.
In 2020, he also attacked Collins and called CNN ‘fake news’ after the network reported on Kim Jong Un’s health.
Trump said a report on the ailing dictator was false, and shot Collins down when she asked him a question in a press conference.
When she asked if Trump had been in contact with Kim, he said: ‘I don’t want to say. I won’t say that. We have a good relationship with North Korea — as good as you can have. I mean, we have a good relationship with North Korea. I have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un and I hope he’s OK.’
When Collins tried to follow up, he called CNN ‘fake news’ and said: ‘The problem is, you don’t write the truth.’
‘CNN is fake news. Don’t talk to me’.
