Trump scolds CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins for not smiling as she asks about survivors of Epstein's abuse [View all]

Source: The Guardian

Trump scolds CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins for not smiling as she asks about Epstein abuse survivors – live

Robert Mackey (now); Shrai Popat, Lucy Campbell and Tom Ambrose (earlier)
Wed 4 Feb 2026 01.37 GMT
First published on Tue 3 Feb 2026 11.16 GMT

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3h ago 22.51 GMT

Trump scolds CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins for not smiling as she asks about survivors of Epstein's abuse

Frustrated by her persistence in asking questions about Jeffrey Epstein during an Oval Office event he wanted to use to promote himself and his party, Donald Trump scolded the CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins for supposedly not smiling enough in his presence.

The exchange began with Collins pointing out that Trump’s attempt to frame the disclosures in the latest batch of Epstein files as damning only for Democrats by pointing out that they also revealed that Epstein had close ties to two of his allies, Elon Musk and Howard Lutnick, his commerce secretary.

Trump shrugged dismissively as Collins mentioned Musk and Lutnick and said that while he had not read their friendly emails with Epstein, the late sex offender he was also friends with for 17 years. “I’m sure they’re fine,” Trump said, “otherwise there would’ve been major headlines.” There were, in fact, headlines about the revelations that Musk and Lutnick were closer to Epstein than they had previously stated.

When Collins noted that “a lot of women who are survivors of Epstein are unhappy with” the way the justice department redacted the documents, including, “entire witness interviews are totally blacked out”, Trump attempted to end the discussion by saying: “I think it’s really time for the country to get on to something else, now that nothing came out about me”.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/feb/03/donald-trump-colombia-gustavo-petro-venezuela-jeffrey-epstein-files-bill-hillary-clinton-us-politics-live-news?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with%3Ablock-698271318f085ffa2d6a1fbb#block-698271318f085ffa2d6a1fbb