CNN’s Caitlan Collins, almost always at odds with Donald Trump and his administration officials, recalled a rare moment during the president’s visit to Saudi Arabia when White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt defended him.
Caitlan Collins arrives at the Pre-Grammy Gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Saturday, January 31, 2026 in Beverly Hills, California. (Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)It is well known that Collis is not in the good books of the Trump administration. POTUS called him “evil” and recently, when asked about the Epstein file on Collins, Trump complained that Collins “doesn’t smile.” He also had several heated interactions with Leavitt during White House press briefings.
Collis recently appeared on Heather McMahan’s ‘Absolutely Not’ podcast and shared her experience as a White House correspondent under the current Trump administration. For a change, he recalled the Saudi Arabia episode as a positive moment of his experience with Levitt.
‘They freaked out’: How Caroline Levitt defended Caitlan CollinsCaitlan Collins has revealed that she asked Trump a question during Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia in May 2025 while on stage with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other world leaders that made Saudi Royal Guards uncomfortable. They tried to ban Collins from subsequent press events, but Levitt confirmed that he was part of the White House press pool.
Collins recalled that he “dared to ask a question, and they’re not used to that because they don’t have a free press” and that the Saudi Royal Guards “became upset.”
“They came and they said, ‘Okay, okay you can’t come to the next event,’ which was like two minutes,” he said. “And I was like, ‘It doesn’t work like that. I go to the US press,’ and they were like, ‘Well, you’re not coming.’ ”
He then goes on to confirm how Levitt intervened in the situation and that Collins entered with the rest of the US press. “To his credit, he said, ‘No, Kaitlan is coming with the rest of the US press,’ and we went in,” he added.
Donald Trump traveled to the Middle East in May 2025, making stops in major Gulf countries as part of a high-profile diplomatic and business-focused tour. These included visits to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
