CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Destroys Trump Admin Over Bombshell Leak — With Brutal Cuts of Their Own Words

Tommy ChristopherMar 25th, 2025, 8:13 am

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins destroyed President Donald Trump and his administration over the bombshell leak of war plans using deeply sourced reporting and brutal clips of Trump officials making spot-on critiques from the past.

The political media world was stunned Monday when The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg dropped a blockbuster report that revealed he was (apparently inadvertently) included in a text chain discussing detailed war plans on the encrypted Signal app.

Trump National Security Adviser Mike Waltz is the official who accidentally added Goldberg to a group chat in which the Principals Committee discussed plans to strike Houthi rebels in Yemen — strikes that shortly came to pass.

On Monday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, Collins opened her show by summarizing developments and revealing her own insider reporting that Trump officials were “stunned” by the revelation.

Collins also called out Trump and his officials over their past strident remarks about security — when the subject was former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:

COLLINS: The minute this story published today, it was blasted out in multiple text threads, throughout the administration, viewed by several people I spoke to, as a major unforced error. Aides noted it didn’t help that the reporter, Mike Waltz added to this group chat, is one that Trump has a particular disdain for, given his previous reporting on him.

And it also wasn’t lost on anyone, in Washington, regarding what Trump used to say about Hillary Clinton, and her use of a private server, or what his now-senior officials once said, either.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: If it was anyone other than Hillary Clinton, they would be in jail right now.

MARCO RUBIO, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: Nobody is above the law, not even Hillary Clinton, even though she thinks she is.

JOHN RATCLIFFE, DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY: Mishandling classified information is still a violation of the Espionage Act.

MICHAEL WALTZ, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR OF THE UNITED STATES: When you have the Clinton emails, on top of the fact that the sitting President of the United States admitted he had documents in his garage. But they didn’t prosecute, they didn’t go after these folks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Hillary Clinton responded tonight with this. You have got to be kidding me.

Now, Goldberg also reported that when it comes to security, Hegseth wrote at one point, We are currently clean on OPSEC. That’s the acronym used for Operational Security.

But when he was asked moments ago, when he landed in Hawaii, about why the details of this operation were shared on Signal, an encrypted messaging app that anyone can use, the Pentagon chief responded with this.

[21:05:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEGSETH: So you’re talking about a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist, who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes, time and time again, to include the, I don’t know, the hoaxes of Russia, Russia, Russia, or the Fine people on both sides hoax, or Suckers and losers hoax. So this is the guy that peddles in garbage. This is what he does. REPORTER: Why were those details shared on Signal, and how did you learn that a journalist was privy to the targets, the types of weapons used and the timing?

HEGSETH: I’ve heard how — I’ve heard how it was characterized. Nobody was texting war plans. And that’s all I have to say about that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)