Washington DC - President Donald Trump escalated his feud with CNN's Kaitlan Collins, slamming her during his White House Correspondent's Association Dinner (WHCA) speech and posting a doctored picture of her to social media.
"I want to personally congratulate CNN's Kaitlan Collins on receiving her award," Trump said during his speech to the WHCA on Friday. "It was all about me. It was a fake, she shouldn't get the award, it was a fake."
"But she's a young, attractive woman. She never smiles. I said, 'Kaitlan do you ever smile? Smile!' You have a nice position – you're at CNN fake news. You should be a happy person. So smile, Kaitlan! Just smile."
Collins had won the highly prestigious Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage Under Deadline Pressure over her coverage of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's tense Oval Office meeting last year.
She was presented with the award by Trump, and shook his hand, but not before sitting through his speech. This was not the first time Trump had publicly attacked her.
"The second best part of last night’s White House Correspondents Dinner was receiving an award from my friend and mentor, [Wolf Blitzer]," Collins wrote on Instagram in response.
"The first was reminding everyone why the First Amendment – and asking uncomfortable questions that people in power don't like – matters."
During his abusive ramblings, Trump compared Collins to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who triggered a far-right meltdown when Budweiser sent her a beer can to promote in 2023.
"I thought Kaitlan had really made it big with a major new sponsorship," he said. "But then I informed her that it wasn't her on the Bud Light can, it was Dylan Mulvaney."
He followed his comment up with a bizarre doctored photo posted to Truth Social, which showed Collin's head superimposed atop Mulvaney's body.