Kaitlan Collins thanks former boss Tucker Carlson for pushing her to cover Trump: ‘Was helpful to me’

WASHINGTON, DC: CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins offered rare credit to her former boss, far-right commentator Tucker Carlson, for helping her attain her current position as her network's chief White House correspondent, in an interview with Vanity Fair published on Friday, April 11.

Despite her fearless criticism of the administration, her path to covering the White House began on the right.

Prior to joining CNN, where she also hosts 'The Source', the 33-year-old worked for The Daily Caller between 2014 and 2017, as per Mediaite. The Daily Caller was founded by Carlson, 55.

What did Kaitlan Collins say about former boss Tucker Carlson?

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson was the primary person to encourage Kaitlan Collins to cover the 2016 presidential election, she shared with Vanity Fair.

"If I hadn’t worked at The Daily Caller, I don’t know if I’d be covering Trump,” she stated, adding, "(It) was helpful to me in covering Trump because it was all these Trump-ish people, people who went on to become huge Trump supporters, including Tucker, and I worked with him every day."

Collins, who also served as the White House correspondent for The Daily Caller, observed that not all loyal followers of incumbent Donald Trump started that way.

“I have never been like, opinionated or ideological, but I could see the shifting on the right of, being like, they didn’t love Trump either, and then totally embraced him when they realized that he was gonna be the nominee,” she said.

Kaitlan Collins' caution for media under Donald Trump's second term

Discussing the animosity between the current Trump administration and media outlets who do not subscribe to their views, Kaitlan Collins recalled the time she was banned from a White House event for asking unfavorable questions in 2018.

She noted that the White House Correspondents' Association had backed her at the time, including Fox News host Bret Baier.

"When you start taking people away, or removing people or banning them, that is where it’s dangerous territory,” she expressed. “That’s kind of the moment we’re at now," she cautioned.

In his second term in the Oval Office, Trump, 78, has ridiculed Collins during press briefings himself. Last month, he abruptly cut her off while she was asking a question about the infamous Signal chat leak, saying, "Excuse me, I didn’t pick you.”

He then proceeded to ignore her throughout the meeting.

In a speech at the Department of Justice (DOJ) last month, Trump had railed against CNN and MSNBC, calling them "corrupt".

“I believe that CNN and MSDNC, who literally write 97.6 percent bad about me, are political arms of the Democrat party, and in my opinion, they are really corrupt and they are illegal,” Trump said, using his nickname for MSNBC, per Deadline.