President Donald Trump repeatedly needled CNN and its primetime anchor Kaitlan Collins on Monday during an extended exchange in the Oval Office about deported El Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Trump welcomed El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to the White House on Monday, and as Collins tried to get in a remark, Trump said he wanted to hear a question from the “very low-rated anchor.”
Collins ignored the slam and asked Trump if he would ask Bukele to assist in bringing back the man who was mistakenly deported.
Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to answer Collins, who said Abrego Garcia was illegally in the country and had previously been ruled by immigration courts to be a member of transnational terrorist group MS-13. It was “up to El Salvador” if it wanted to return him, she said.
Trump interjected that CNN asked “with a slant, because they are totally slanted.”
“They don’t know what’s happening, that’s why nobody is watching them,” Trump said.
White House advisor Stephen Miller was also tapped in by Trump to respond to Collins, saying it was “very arrogant even for American media to suggest that we would even tell El Salvador how to handle their own citizens.”
He added that because Trump had declared MS-13 a foreign terrorist outfit, Abrego Garcia was ineligible for immigration relief in the US.
While a court ordered the US government to pursue “steps to facilitate the return” of the man who was removed last month, the Justice Department asserted that federal courts do not have the authority to dictate to the executive branch how to handle foreign relations and that the order only requires removal of “domestic obstacles” that would hinder the man’s ability to return to the US.
The Supreme Court upheld the decision by US District Judge Paula Xinis saying Abrego Garcia had to be returned, saying it “properly requires the government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.”
However, the Trump administration has framed the decision as a victory that affirmed the president’s authority over foreign policy.
“We won a case 9-0,” Miller said. “And people like CNN are portraying it as a loss, as usual, because they want foreign terrorists in the country who kidnap women and children.”
Collins followed up that Trump had said he would abide by the Supreme Court decision. Trump shot back, “Why don’t you just say, ‘Isn’t it wonderful that we’re keeping criminals out of our country?’ Why can’t you just say that? Why do you go over and over — and that’s why nobody watches you anymore. You have no credibility.”
Collins hosts “The Source” on weeknights in addition to being a White House correspondent for CNN.
Earlier in the conversation with Bukele, Trump said of CNN, “I think they hate our country” and accused it of stifling reporting about decreased illegal border crossings under his administration.
Asked for comment, a CNN spokesperson didn’t respond on the record to Fox News Digital.
In a court filing submitted Sunday evening, Justice Department lawyers argued they are not required to comply with a judge’s order to “facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia, who was sent to an El Salvadoran prison in what administration officials have since acknowledged was an “administrative error.”
They argued that the order itself likely exceeds the power of the courts, arguing they “have no authority to direct the Executive Branch to conduct foreign relations in a particular way, or engage with a foreign sovereign in a given manner.”
Fox News Digital’s Alex Nitzberg and Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.
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