CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Torpedoes Trump’s Mean Coverage Is ‘Illegal’ Rant

CNN anchor and Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins torpedoed a rant in which President Donald Trump claimed that overwhelmingly negative television coverage is now “illegal” and “no longer free speech.”

Trump spoke for an hour during a photo op in the Oval Office Friday, during which he claimed “I’m a very strong person for free speech.”

He then added “But 97, 94, 95, 96% of the people are against me in the sense of the newscasts are against me. The stories are– they said 97% bad. So, they gave me 97, they’ll take a great story, and they’ll make it bad. See, I think that’s really illegal, personally.”

Trump later said such coverage is “no longer free speech. That’s no longer anything. That’s just cheating.”

On Friday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Collins opened her show by bluntly reminding Trump of the foundational instruments that refute his assertions — namely the clauses of the First Amendment:

KAITLAN COLLINS: Tonight, President Trump says overly negative coverage of him is illegal, as he is ousting a prosecutor that he picked who declined to indict one of his political opponents without enough evidence.

I’m Kaitlan Collins. And this is THE SOURCE.

Tonight, President Trump is no longer just suggesting that some TV networks should have their licenses revoked. He now seems to be clearly saying that he — the coverage that he deems to be too negative is illegal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The stories are 90 — they said 97 percent bad. So they gave me 97. They’ll take a great story and they’ll make it bad. See, I think that’s really illegal, personally.

You can’t take — you can’t have a free airwaves — you’re getting free airwaves from the United States government, and you can’t have that and say — and somebody that just won an election. And I had to go through this during the election. I think it’s a miracle that I can win, when 97 percent of the stories on the networks are bad.

That’s no longer free speech. It’s no longer — that’s just cheating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Like freedom of the speech, freedom of press is legally protected by the First Amendment. That includes positive and negative coverage. It’s not based on percentages either.

The President, though, seems emboldened today, by ABC’s decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel’s show off the air, after the network was facing intense pressure from the President’s FCC chair.

Other former and current late-night hosts are coming to Jimmy Kimmel’s defense, in recent days, using their own primetime platforms to accuse the administration of trampling on free speech.

Watch above via CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.