CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Says ‘Dozens’ Of Trump Job-Seekers Told Her They’re ‘Taken Into A Room’ And Grilled About Jan 6

CNN anchor and correspondent Kaitlan Collins said she has heard from “dozens” of job hopefuls that President-elect Donald Trump’s interview process includes being “taken into a room” at Mar-a-lago for a grilling on January 6 and the 2020 election.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper was joined by a galaxy of CNN anchors and personalities like John King, Dana Bash, Kaitlan Collins, Anderson Cooper, Maggie Haberman, and many more for CNN’s live coverage of Trump’s inauguration to a second term.

Hours before Trump was set to begin a flurry of actions to start his term, Haberman said the weeks-long focus on cabinet-level nominees has led to a “big question mark” about staffing of mid- and lower-level positions at agencies that will be tasked with carrying out Trump’s plans.

Collins added that the process has also been marked by an intense focus on loyalty and adherence to Trump’s false view of the 2020 election and the January 6 riot:

ANDERSON COOPER: The issue that you raised is there’s concern of sort of a loyalty oath for people at different levels of the federal government as opposed to having kind of a bureaucratic class who who’s there, whether it’s a Republican or Democratic administration.

KAITLAN COLLINS: Yeah. And part of that staffing issue that Maggie is talking about there in terms of the lower level jobs that are still quite important and actually do a lot of the grunt work in these agencies is how this hiring process has happened.

And, you know, dozens of people who have gone in for interviews at Mar a Lago over the last two months. You know, they’re taken into a room. They’re questioned about not just their qualifications for the job or what they believe the agency’s agenda goals should look like.

But also, loyalty is a huge part of this. And it’s not a surprise to anyone that Trump wants loyalty from his staffers. We’ve known that for eight years now, but they’re approaching it in such a different way because the one mistake that Trump will acknowledge he made in his first term is, he says, staffing that he didn’t put the right people in the right jobs.

And they’re not just looking at those who are going to be inside the Cabinet room with him for those meetings. They’re looking at the people who are going to be serving underneath those cabinet officials as well.

And they bring them in. They ask them their views on January 6th. They ask them who they thought won the 2020 election. And obviously, people who are going into these meetings know what the right answer is in order to get these jobs.

But that has been a big part of this in terms of staffing up and sorting through not just whether someone is qualified for the job, but also if they’re willing to say that they will be loyal to Trump and also share his views on things.

ANDERSON COOPER: That’s fascinating. So if– as part of the job interview, they’re actually asking them about who won the 2020 election and about January 6.

KAITLAN COLLINS: Yeah, I’ve heard from dozens of people, this is not just a handful of people, or maybe they worked for someone that they wanted to to check with them on that Trump doesn’t believe is loyal. They really have this is kind of been carte blanche.

And Trump has given them the authority to go in and ask these questions and really make these calls themselves before even bringing it to Trump.

Watch above via CNN’s live coverage of Trump’s inauguration.