(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) President Donald Trump did not mince words in an Oval Office exchange with CNN host Kaitlan Collins over questions regarding the deportation of an El Salvadoran national—a move the Supreme Court later ruled to be an error.
On Monday, Collins pressed Trump on whether he would bring back Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the deported El Salvadoran national who had been inadvertently removed under the Trump administration’s tough-on-immigration policies.
In response, Trump bluntly called Collins a “low-rated anchor” while scolding CNN. At one point, Trump even summoned White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller to address Collins.
“Can you just also respond to that question? Because you know it’s asked by CNN and they always ask it with a slant because they’re totally slanted because they don’t know what’s happening,” Trump asked, as quoted by the New York Post.
“That’s why nobody’s watching them,” he added.
Echoing Trump’s remarks, Miller said it was “arrogant” for media members to lecture El Salvador President Nayib Bukele how to deal with his constituents.
While Garcia had been granted temporary asylum by an immigration judge, he was deported back to El Salvador by the Trump administration. He is now detained at the maximum-security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).
Garcia, a Salvadoran national, was long suspected of gang involvement.
“How long do we have to answer this question? Why don’t you just say, ‘Isn’t it wonderful that we’re keeping criminals out of our country?’ Why can’t you just say that? Why do you go over and over — and that’s why nobody watches you anymore. You have no credibility,” Trump told Collins.
