President-elect Donald Trump isn’t the only one returning to the White House.
Kaitlan Collins is on her way back to her past role as chief White House correspondent, the network announced Tuesday. The network’s rising star, one of the most known names in cable news, will remain host of “The Source,” which airs in primetime at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT.
“Kaitlan Collins is the perfect person to lead coverage of the new Trump White House, even as she continues to anchor her key primetime show ’The Source,'” CNN Chairman and CEO Mark Thompson said in a release. “Kaitlan is a political journalist of real depth and tenacity who already boasts an amazing record of scoops and exclusive interviews.”
During her previous stint as a White House reporter, Collins, 32, frequently sparred with Trump and his past administration.
In 2018, she was banned from a Rose Garden press conference after asking Trump questions in the Oval Office. CNN defended Collins at the time and said the decision to ban her was “retaliatory,” adding that they demanded “better.”
Need a break? Play Daily Crossword Puzzle.
White House bans CNN reporter KaitlanCollins from press conference
In 2020, Trump walked out of the White House briefing room after Collins asked him a question about the controversial drug hydroxychloroquine during a COVID-19 briefing. Also in 2020, Trump called Collins and CNN “fake news,” a term he coined and used frequently to describe news organizations he considered biased, after she asked him about his relationship with North Korea’s president Kim Jong Un, according to Politico.
In 2014, after graduating from the University of Alabama, Collins started her career as an entertainment reporter at right-wing website The Daily Caller, which was founded by former Fox News star Tucker Carlson.
Later, she covered the 2016 presidential election and Trump’s first term as a White House reporter for the conservative outlet before making frequent appearances as a guest on CNN. Former CNN head Jeff Zucker then hired her as a reporter where she quickly rose to become the youngest chief White House correspondent ever at the network at 28.
She was promoted to the 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-canceled “CNN This Morning” alongside Don Lemon and Poppy Harlow.
After the cancellation of “This Morning,” Collins was named anchor of her own show, “The Source,” which follows “Anderson Cooper 360” and serves as lead-in to Abby Phillip’s program “NewsNight.”
