Trump’s Gross Attack on CNN’s Kaitlan Collins After Epstein Question
Bulwark Takes
The Bulwark
4.7 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 4 February 2026
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tim Miller and Sam Stein give their takes on Donald Trump’s explosive White House press conference, where he lashed out at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, dismissed questions about the Epstein files, and once again showed how comfortable he is attacking female reporters. They explain why Trump’s treatment of Collins was especially revealing, how it fits his long-standing pattern of defending powerful men accused of abuse, and why the press corps’ failure to step in matters more than people realize.
They also break down Speaker Mike Johnson openly casting doubt on the legitimacy of U.S. elections while admitting he has no evidence of fraud. Tim and Sam explain why Johnson’s comments are not a slip or rhetorical excess, but a deliberate signal and why the real threat may come on the back end of the election, through stalling, lawsuits, and refusal to seat members.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, everybody. Tim Miller from the Bullwork here with managing editor Sam Stein. |
| 0:04.2 | We were in the green room complaining about youth sports. |
| 0:07.5 | But now we're here to talk about important matters of state and nation. |
| 0:12.3 | The president gave a little press conference gaggle, whatever we're calling these little hybrid things that he does in the White House today and got a little heated with a friend of the show, Caitlin Collins of CNN. |
| 0:28.7 | So I'm going to play a couple of those exchanges and then play something really gross at the end |
| 0:34.2 | for everybody. So make sure to stick around for that. Sam, did you have any big picture thoughts? Should we just just jump right in? No, let's jump right in. I want to, because what I want to say big picture wise really depends on people seeing the exchange. Yeah, okay. Let's watch the first exchange before things, before Trump starts getting nasty. You talk about Democrats who were in there. Elon Musk was also in there, and so was your Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik and correspondence that he had with him. Did you read those new files that were published by the Department of Justice? I have a lot of things I'm doing. A lot of things I'm doing. I don't know. You mentioned two names. I'm sure they're fine. I'm sure they're fine. Otherwise, it would have been major headlines. |
| 1:12.0 | I thought that could was interesting mostly just because how cucked he was by Elon. |
| 1:16.4 | I mean, Elon calls him a pedo. Elon called him a petto. But maybe Trump feels like he needs the money. |
| 1:24.1 | Maybe Trump feels like he needs the X support. but no, he doesn't, that's not, |
| 1:28.3 | that's not the Trump I know. He doesn't take an opportunity to swap back at Elon. |
| 1:34.0 | I thought that was noteworthy. Good point. I hadn't thought about it in those, |
| 1:38.7 | in that terms. He could have easily just said, you're not a petty bitch like me is why. |
| 1:42.8 | You know, I'm pet. This extends from your conversation about youth sports. He could have, yeah, he could have been like, boy, Elon was in there a lot. What's he doing there? Why does he want to party so hard? But he didn't take that opportunity. You know, I don't know if we're going to play. We probably could, but there's another opportunity he just didn't swing out, |
| 2:02.9 | which was when they asked him about Bill Clinton. |
| 2:18.1 | And he was just like, you know, I always liked that guy. We could play that. Do we have that clip? Because we could play that clip if we wanted to. Let's play it. Okay. Today we heard that the Clinton set deposition dates to testify before the House Oversight Committee. |
| 2:20.0 | Any reaction to that and related to the asking? |
| 2:18.1 | I think it's a shame. Today we heard that the Clinton set deposition dates to testify before the House Oversight Committee. |
| 2:20.0 | Any reaction to that and related to the... I think it's a shame, to be honest. |
| 2:23.3 | I always liked him. |
| 2:24.7 | Her? |
| 2:26.1 | Yeah. She's a very capable woman. |
| 2:28.0 | She was better in debating than some of the other people, I will tell you that. |
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