As was widely expected, it appears that Kaitlan Collins may be CNN’s choice to anchor the 9:00 p.m. time slot. Because the fresh shutdown moderating (if you can call it that) a Trump town hall on Wednesday was widely criticized, Collins hosted Thursday’s episode of “CNN Primetime.”
And he kicked things off with a comment on the town hall, which echoes the network’s official line on why it happened. Watch that clip above (courtesy of @acyn on twitter,
“About last night: The 70 minutes I spent on stage with former President Donald Trump in New Hampshire was a major turning point in the Republican Party’s search for its nominee, and potentially the opening act for America’s next presidential race.” There was the line,” Collins said.
“It is important to remember that he is, right now, the GOP front-runner, that he is running, as noted, while being criminally charged, he was found civilly liable and classified by He was being probed for everything from the handling of documents to his business empire.”
Collins’ comments come as CNN remains at the center of an overwhelming backlash over the Trump town hall. This response is complex, but the unifying point is that it was an irresponsible mistake on every level. Critics called out the friendly audience as almost entirely Trump supporters, the fact that Collins often allowed Trump to tell many lies with very little resistance, and of course that Trump not only mocked Collins to his face. Insulted, he defamed E Jean Carroll, all-female jury finds her liable for sexual assault and defamation just 24 hours ago,
Colin’s comments mirror what Anderson Cooper said an hour earlier on his own CNN show. Cooper made a thorough defense of the debacle, beginning by admitting that everything critics had said about the incident was true, before lecturing the critics that his opposition to the incident was false. There was effectively a shutdown and the end of the pandemic.
He added, “You have every right to be angry and pissed off today and never watch this network again.” “But do you think that living in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to drive that person away?”
Anderson’s defense of CNN’s Trump town hall ended with the incident. Read more about it here.
Meanwhile, it is not yet known for certain whether Collins is the new host of 9:00 p.m., which has been left without a permanent anchor since Chris Cuomo was fired in 2021. But the network is clearly interested in raising her profile. Collins currently co-anchors “CNN This Morning” with Poppy Harlow, a job she took last November after serving as CNN’s chief White House correspondent.