Kaitlan Collins and Jake Tapper hit back at JD Vance, say VP's criticism of CNN was 'just not true'

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: CNN hosts Kaitlan Collins and Jake Tapper hit back at Vice President JD Vance on Thursday, January 8, for attacking the network, and insisted that the vice president's criticism was "just not true."

Vance slammed CNN for their headline during a White House press conference following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis by an ICE officer.

Kaitlan Collins says CNN's headline was 'relatively straightforward'

JD Vance said during the press conference, "When I was actually walking out here, somebody sent me a photo of a CNN headline about what happened in Minneapolis, and this is the headline, I’m just gonna read it - 'Outrage after ICE officer kills US citizen in Minneapolis.'"

"Well, that’s one way to put it, and that is the way that many people in the corporate media have put this attack over the last 24 hours […] The way that the media, by and large, has reported this story has been an absolute disgrace, and it puts our law enforcement officers at risk every single day," the vice president added.

He further mentioned, "What that headline leaves out is the fact that that very ICE officer nearly had his life ended, dragged by a car, six months ago, 33 stitches in his leg, so you think maybe he’s a little bit sensitive about somebody ramming him with an automobile? What that headline leaves out is that that woman was there to interfere with a legitimate law enforcement operation in the United States of America."

Vance concluded his statement by saying that the media "should be ashamed" of itself.

Tapper described the press conference as a "remarkable address," while Collins remarked, "That’s one word for it."

"Part of that soundbite there from the vice president, he was attacking CNN. He read a headline aloud over our coverage that has happened in the last 24 hours. I went and looked up the headline. It was relatively straightforward. It was certainly accurate," Collins said.

Meanwhile, Tapper weighed in and said, "It was just that there was outrage in Minneapolis after the shooting, which is a fact. A fact," adding, "And by the way, we reported on this show yesterday about the fact that that ICE officer had that prior incident in June of last year."

Jake Tapper says JD Vance 'traffics in strawmen all the time'

On CNN's coverage, Collins added, "That’s because you aired the comments from the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as well, when she was saying that in her press conference."

Tapper said, "Yeah, but then I also looked it up on the Department of Justice website," as Collins mentioned, "Right, so the fact that that wasn’t part of the coverage, which is his main grievance there, is just not true."

Meanwhile, Tapper added, "The vice President traffics in strawmen all the time, which is not necessarily the sign of somebody who’s confident in his arguments. He says that the media has called this guy a murderer. I don’t know who in the media has done that. We haven’t done that." 

Collins responded to Tapper, "The mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, last time I checked, has also not even gone that far, even though he has certainly said other statements, including telling ICE to ‘get the F out’ yesterday."

"But I think what stood out from that press conference today was incredibly combative and blaming the media and the left for the coverage of this shooting and the aftermath of it was that we certainly heard an echo, what we’ve heard from President Trump and from Secretary Kristi Noem," she noted.

"But also Jake, they have come out pretty quickly and called this domestic terrorism right away, and they had very strong statements right out of this, even though there is a lot of nuance when you watch this video and a lot of things we don’t know," the CNN chief White House correspondent concluded.