By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-07 22:18:26 | Updated at 2025-01-08 18:46:32
20 hours ago
CNN's newly minted White House Correspondent, Kaitlan Collins, urged viewers to heed the wide-ranging statements made by Donald Trump at a press conference Tuesday.
The president-elect made a series of promises and declarations during the event, including plans to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the 'Gulf of America.'
He also refused to rule out using military force to take control of the Panama Canal and Greenland.
'It's not something that should be treated with bluster,' Collins, 32, told her fellow panelists on CNN's Inside Politics.
'I would treat everything he said there quite seriously,' she added.
'I mean, moments after he said he wanted to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, Marjorie Taylor Greene is saying that she's going to advocate for that.'
Some of Trump's other remarks included the president claiming that members of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah may have been among those who stormed the US Capitol on January 6.
He also laid out his vision for the world, took aim at Canada and tore into President Joe Biden's climate agenda.
CNN 's newly minted White House Correspondent, Kaitlan Collins , urged viewers to heed the wide-ranging statements made by Donald Trump at a press conference Tuesday
The president-elect made a series of promises and declarations during the Tuesday event, including plans to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the 'Gulf of America.'
'[This] is not going to be the same Washington that we are encountering in 13 days from now when Trump takes office,' Collins added.
'But I do want to say one of the biggest things that stood out to me from that press conference - from moments when Trump got out there before he even started taking questions - is the level of anger,' she continued, paving the way for a comment from fellow panelist Dana Bash.
'He's really agitated,' the 53-year-old said, sparking some conjecture from Collins.
'Well, we know why,' she explained. 'He made it quite clear... And it's two things.
'It's his legal issues overall, but it's the sentencing that he is facing on Friday,' she insisted, pointing out how the president-elect's nearly concluded hush money case will proceed as planned despite attempts from his legal team to stall it.
'Judge [Juan] Merchan has denied efforts to delay it,' Collins said, adding that Trump's attorneys 'are still working to do so.'
The second thing she said was incensing the soon-to-be president was the just-blocked report from DOJ Special Counsel Smith, which Trump's lawyers on Tuesday successfully stopped from being published.
The conversation occurred on Inside Politics, after Trump had concluded the largely impromptu speech. Also at the desk was Chief National Correspondent John King, David Chalian, the station's Washington bureau chief, and host Dana Bash
'It's this report by Jack Smith that we are told is imminent and is going to come out,' she said, shortly before it fully emerged that Judge Aileen M. Cannon, a Trump appointee, temporarily barred the DOG from releasing Smith’s account of his investigation.
Under the impression the attempt was still under the air, the progressive commentator who clashed with Trump during a town hall televised by CNN this year said: 'We'll see if it's successful.
'But his level of anger over that is unmistakable,' she went on, before asserting, 'He has not been this angry since he won the election.'
Bash then gave the floor to King, who - when asked to provide an overarching characterization of Trump's comments - framed Trump as being dissatisfied by design.
'It is remarkable,' said the 61-year-old, who previously anchored the program began.
'Somebody who is two weeks from resuming the presidency of the United States who, whether you voted for him or not, whether you like him or not, just engineered a remarkable historical political comeback, is so whiny and so full of grievances.
'Now, that is Donald Trump's trademark,' he went on. 'That has been his trademark since he came down that escalator.
'He used his grievance to keep his people together, to keep his base together, and to keep his team loyal.'
King agreed with Collins that Trump had appeared 'angry' leading Chalian to state Trump's comments were likely to stir up sentiment that the outgoing administration was 'purposely making the transition difficult'. King sarcastically paraphrased: 'They're still out to get him'
King went on to agree with Collins that Trump had appeared 'angry', while conceding that 'Joe Biden is using his executive powers on his way out to do things that [Trump] fundamentally disagrees with'.
'Weclome to American politics,' the correspondent declared.
Responding to Trump's assertion Tuesday that he was 'inheriting a mess', King claimed: 'He's inheriting the strongest economy in the world.'
'It has troubles, it has potholes, it has issues, but it is the strongest economy in the world.
Panelist David Chalian, 51, also agreed, saying the president's comments were likely to stir up sentiment that the outgoing administration was 'purposely making the transition difficult.'
