Donald Trump & Kaitlan Collins Can't Stop Butting Heads: 'Will You Be Nice Today?'

Donald Trump showed irritation with Kaitlan Collins' headstrong behavior during a press conference. Reporters gathered at the White House on January 29, and CNN producer Alejandra Jaramillo documented the experience on her Instagram Story. That included the president speaking about the Ukraine conflict. "Trump says he 'personally asked Putin not to fire into Kyiv,'" Jaramillo wrote over one picture that shows the president sitting in front of a throng of cameras and microphones pointing in his direction. Jaramillo also included a very brief video that was taken over the shoulder of Kaitlan Collins as the two apparently had a testy opening exchange: "Trump asks @kaitlancollins 'Will you be nice today?" Collins shared that clip to her own Instagram Story as well.

@kaitlancollins/Instagram

Unfortunately for those hoping for another classic Trump v. Collins clash, there was nothing more on that day as the Commander-in-Chief decided to refrain from taking questions later. "In what I believe is a first, President Trump declines to take any questions at his Cabinet meeting," Collins wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Another user posted a video to X of Collins attempting to break through to Trump as he declined comment. "Mr. President, why not take questions?" Collins asks in the clip. One user believed that it was Collins who had Trump tongue-tied. "He afraid of you!" they tweeted. Of course, that was only one of many clashes between the CNN reporter and Trump.

The month before he asked if she would be "nice," Donald Trump called Kaitlan Collins "Stupid and Nasty" in a strongly-worded post on Truth Social. On December 6, Trump went on a tirade against the CNN reporter and her network. "Caitlin Collin's of Fake News CNN, always Stupid and Nasty, asked me why the new Ballroom was costing more money than originally thought one year ago," he wrote in the opening of his strongly-worded post. The president had taken issue with the way Collins (whose name he misspelled, perhaps on purpose) had questioned him about the renovations to the White House ballroom being over budget. "Their ratings are so low that they're not even counted or relevant anymore. MAGA!!!" he wrote about Collins/CNN at the end of the post.

Prior to that online outburst, Trump hinted Collins was on his last nerve. That came after the Republicans were walloped by the Democrats at the polls in November. Collins tried to get a reaction out of Trump. "Mr. President, you sound very frustrated by last night's elections," she said. Instead of snidely replying, POTUS appeared to be out of energy to butt heads with Collins. "Thank you very much," he said to the scrum of reporters before ending the presser without addressing Collins' question.