Kaitlan Collins appeared to shade President Donald Trump during a recent television appearance, subtly responding to one of his personal insults.
While hosting "The Source", CNN's Chief White House Correspondent had a mug on her desk that read: “America Needs Nasty Women.” Collins mug was visible as she interviewed filmmaker Alex Gibney on his new documentary "Musk" on tech titan Elon Musk.
The mug appeared to reference Trump’s repeated attacks on Collins, 34, who has frequently gone head-to-head with the president.
Most recently, in an interview with Time Magazine, Trump took a jab at Collins, calling her “a very average person” and “the most unhappy young person I’ve ever seen.”
Last month, after banning several news outlets from the White House,
including CNN, Trump called out Collins for being at the U.N. General Assembly as he walked into the building with first lady Melania Trump.
“I’m surprised that CNN is here covering me," Trump told Collins, video footage from the incident showed. "You shouldn’t be here. You should not be here covering me. You said you weren’t going to cover me. You shouldn’t be covering me."
Collins, in a Sept. 22 X post, clarified that CNN was "credentialed by the United Nations to cover the General Assembly."
Neither Trump nor Collins have commented on the mug. CNN did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for a comment.
Trump vs. Kaitlan Collins
Collins has frequently sparred with the president beginning in his first term. In 2018, she was even banned from a White House event, according to previous USA TODAY reporting.
In December 2025, in a Truth Social post, the president called the correspondent “stupid and nasty” while discussing construction on the White House ballroom.
In February, Trump criticized Collins for "not smiling" at him after she raised a question about the files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
"You are the worst reporter," Trump told Collins during an exchange in the Oval Office on Feb. 3. "CNN has no ratings because of people like you."
He continued, "You know she's a young woman – I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile. I’ve known you for 10 years. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a smile on your face. You know why you're not smiling? Because you know you're not telling the truth."
And in June, the president accused her of having “hatred in her eyes,” while he spoke to reporters in the Oval Office.
The president berated CNN, calling the network “crooked as hell” and “a very corrupt organization” before turning his attention to Collins.
"CNN's a very corrupt organization, with a corrupt reporter standing right there," Trump said about Collins. "Never smiles. She's a young, beautiful woman (who) never smiles. I've never seen a smile off her face. I see her standing there with hatred in her eyes."
The network, in a statement to USA TODAY at the time, called Collins an "exceptional journalist."
“Kaitlan Collins is an exceptional journalist, reporting every day from the White House and the field with real depth and tenacity," CNN's statement said. "She skillfully brings that reporting to the anchor chair and CNN platforms every day, which audiences around the world know they can trust.”
CNN's youngest White House correspondent
Collins started her career as an entertainment reporter at The Daily Caller, a right-wing website founded in 2014 by former Fox News star Tucker Carlson, after graduating from the University of Alabama. Later, she covered the 2016 presidential election and Trump's first term as a White House reporter for the conservative outlet before making frequent guest appearances on CNN. Former CNN head Jeff Zucker then hired her as a reporter, and she quickly rose to become the network's youngest chief White House correspondent ever, at 28.
She was promoted to chief White House correspondent ahead of President Joe Biden's January 2021 inauguration. Collins left her role as chief White House correspondent in fall 2022 after embattled ex-CNN chief Chris Licht named her co-host of now-cancelled "CNN This Morning" alongside Don Lemon and Poppy Harlow.
After "This Morning" was canceled, Collins began anchoring her own show, "The Source With Kaitlan Collins."
Contributing: Jay Stahl, Melina Khan, Sara Moniuszko / USA TODAY
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@usatodayco.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kaitlan Collins appears to take jab at Trump with new mug
