Maggie Haberman Hits WH Press Corps — Says CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Is ‘The Only Person’ Challenging Trump ‘Aggressively’

New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman believes only one White House reporter is routinely “challenging” President Donald Trump “aggressively” — CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.

In an interview on The Daily Show on Monday to promote her new book, Regime Change, Haberman noted that many personalities who are “friendly” to the Trump administration now occupy prominent placement in the White House briefing room.

“They have structured — this White House — the press corps so that it is primarily people, or half people who they consider to be friendly to them,” Haberman said. “They control the media pool that is in there now. They control seats.”

But even beyond just the pro-MAGA outlets, Haberman believes there is just one reporter in the room who consistently challenges the president.

“Routinely the only person really challenging him aggressively — and not rudely or unprofessionally — is Kaitlan Collins,” Haberman said — a comment which drew agreement from Daily Show host Jon Stewart and applause from the audience. “And she takes an enormous amount of sh*t, and she keeps a total straight face. But she doesn’t have backup.”

Haberman conceded the job has become more difficult in Trump’s second term because the president is more prone to giving long-winded answers.

“In the old days, when we would be in the pool — even in term one — and they made it harder, but it was still doable, you’d ask a question, somebody else in the pool would follow up on your question,” Haberman said. “Now it is, you ask a question about Ukraine, Iran, I can go on and on, and he turns to the Reflecting Pool. And it’s 20 minutes of him just talking. And so it is much more challenging.”

White House reporters do have a new method for getting access to the president that they largely did not have during Trump’s first term — as they now frequently call him directly, and he often takes the calls. But Haberman questions whether there is anything to be gained for reporters from these brief chats.

“A lot of people have his number,” Haberman said. “And for reporters, it’s, ‘Wow! I have the president’s number and I can speak to him directly.’ And he controls the terms, right? There have been some pieces of news that have come out. But generally speaking, it’s him setting the agenda. He says one thing here, he says something totally different 15 minutes later, and it’s just him flooding the zone. And that’s what he did in New York when he was a tabloid guy.”

Watch above, via Comedy Central.

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