Jake Tapper Defends Kaitlan Collins After Trump’s ‘Stupid and Nasty’ Rant

CNN’s Jake Tapper is standing up for Kaitlan Collins after President Donald Trump called her “stupid and nasty” and misspelled her name in a lengthy rant.

The CNN anchor, 56, came to his colleague and network’s defense on X on Saturday, Dec. 6, with a bulleted list of points countering parts of the rant, which Trump, 79, shared on Truth Social earlier that day.

Alongside a screenshot of Trump’s full message, Tapper first corrected the president’s spelling of the White House correspondent’s name, which he incorrectly wrote as “Caitlin Collin’s.”

He next countered the president’s description of Collins, 33, as “always Stupid and Nasty.” Disagreeing, the anchor wrote: “2) she’s smart 3) she’s nice.”

Tapper also defended Collins’ integrity as a journalist, as Trump seemingly attacked the CNN correspondent because she inquired about his sprawling White House ballroom project, which has been the subject of widespread criticism. (Collins later refuted this, however, writing, “Technically my question was about Venezuela.”)

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

After Trump claimed in his rant that Collins “asked me why the new Ballroom was costing more money than originally thought one year ago,” Tapper had his colleague’s back.

“It’s a legitimate question about construction of a controversial project on White House grounds,” the anchor wrote.

In his post, the president also claimed in a lengthy response that his controversial, multimillion-dollar renovation, first announced in July, is “under budget and ahead of schedule,” despite reports that state the opposite.

For his final two bullet replies, Tapper acknowledged Trump’s claims by writing, “Thanks for the explanation,” before adding a final note about the president’s jabs at CNN.

Trump took aim at CNN’s ratings and relevancy, called the network “corrupt,” and used his long-held favorite insult of “fake news.”

Tapper addressed just one of the insults in the sixth and final bullet point of his X post.

“Generally speaking,” he wrote, “if someone or something is irrelevant, the President doesn’t talk about them.”

Trump’s post targeting Collins is the latest in his streak of attacks on female journalists.

Recently, the president similarly called another White House correspondent, CBS News’ Nancy Cordes, “a stupid person” on Thanksgiving, just one day after calling The New York Times‘ Katie Rogers “ugly, both inside and out.”

Trump also made headlines in November for his attack on Bloomberg’s Catherine Lucey, whom he angrily told, “Quiet. Quiet, piggy,” and for calling ABC News’ Mary Bruce “a terrible person and a terrible reporter” as she attempted to ask a question about the Epstein files.

At the time, Collins came to the defense of her fellow correspondents.

In a Nov. 18 X post, the CNN journalist wrote, “My colleagues in the White House press corps, @marykbruce and @catherine_lucey, both do a great job.”