CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Straight-Up Calls Trump Out: ‘Angering The President Is Not Illegal’

CNN anchor and Senior White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins straight-up called out President Donald Trump and his Defense Department over their efforts to punish Democrats who sent Trump into execution-themed rage, pointing out that “angering the president” is “not illegal” and laughing out loud at a response by Trump’s allies.

A group of Democrats — all military veterans — posted a video this week reminding servicemembers and intelligence officers “You can refuse illegal orders.”

The Pentagon announced an investigation into one of them, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and Secretary of Defense/War Pete Hegseth is reportedly now weighing punishments for Kelly.

On Tuesday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Collins bluntly defended Kelly and called out Trump, and observed with a laugh that a Trump-allied answer video was essentially “saying the same thing”:

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN HOST, THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS: First, President Trump called six Democrats traitors who should be put on trial. Now the FBI is getting involved.

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

Tonight, the FBI is making moves in an apparent investigation of six Democratic members of Congress, requesting interviews with them via the Capitol Police and the Senate Sergeant at Arms. Though it’s still not exactly clear, as we come on the air tonight, which law they are accused of violating.

We do know, they angered President Trump by releasing this video message to U.S. service members.

(VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Their message was to obey the law. And agree with the video or why they put it out or not, angering the President is obviously not illegal. But he has plainly taken it as an affront to his authority, and has accused those Democrats, subsequently, of seditious behavior, reminding everyone that that is punishable by death, as the President has on Truth Social.

And the Democrats have responded in a joint statement they put out tonight. I’m quoting from it now. They say, We swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. That oath lasts a lifetime, and we intend to keep it. We will not be bullied. We will never give up the ship.

One thing worth noting tonight is how similar that video that you just saw, where Democrats are telling troops they must refuse an unlawful order, is to the rebuttal that we saw from these Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NICK LALOTA (R-NY): I want to speak directly to the members of the military and the intelligence community. Like you, I raised my right hand because I love this country. I believe in something bigger than myself.

REP. JOE WILSON (R-SC): Freedom is not free.

REP. BARRY MOORE (R-AL): My oath was clear. Uphold the Constitution.

REP. RICK CRAWFORD (R-AR): That commitment is powerful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all understand the importance of the chain of command.

REP. JACK BERGMAN (R-MI): Troops. Listen up. Any service member who refuses a lawful order is subject to court martial for violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: They’re kind of both saying the same thing in those videos.

Republicans, however, have not been accused of sedition by the White House.

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