Meghan McCain urges White House to pull credential of CNN’s Kaitlan Collins

Conservative pundit Meghan McCain attacked CNN anchor and reporter Kaitlan Collins, suggesting she be barred from covering the White House after she aggressively questioned press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday about President Trump’s view on Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

“Kaitlan Collins is an absolute imbecile and a pure partisan hack,” McCain wrote Wednesday on the social media platform X. “Have some respect for the two women standing in front of you who are exposing lies, deep corruption and keeping the country safe. The White House should pull her credentials.”

McCain was responding to Collins’ questioning of Gabbard, who during a briefing earlier in the day alleged that former President Obama and his allies worked to undermine President Trump ahead of the 2016 election.

“What would you say to people who believe that you’re only releasing these documents now to improve your standing with the president after he said that your intelligence assessments were wrong,” Collins asked, in reference to conflicting intelligence within the administration relating to Iran’s nuclear program.

Collins has made a name for herself in the media with direct questioning of top Republican lawmakers on her nightly prime time show and repeated follow ups directed at Trump during gaggles with members of the press.

There is precedent for Trump’s White House pulling credentials of reporters they feel are overly combative. During his first term, the president yanked the credential of former CNN reporter Jim Acosta before eventually reinstating his hard pass.

This year, The White House took control of the press pool covering the president daily and sought to elevate right-wing and “new media” voices in media briefings and interactions with reporters.

Trump has sued a number of leading news outlets in recent months and on Monday, Leavitt announced the Wall Street Journal would be banned from covering Trump’s upcoming trip to Scotland over its reporting on his alleged ties to Jeffery Epstein.