Why Kaitlan Collins Credits Tucker Carlson For Her Illustrious CNN Career

One of CNN's star journalists, Kaitlan Collins, is attributing much of her success in political coverage to political correspondent and commentator Tucker Carlson. Collins graduated from the University of Alabama in 2014 with a Bachelor's degree in political science and journalism and then began her journalistic career as a reporter at The Daily Caller, where Carlson was her boss. 

Collins' career is marked by successful coverage of political campaigns and the 2016 presidential elections, where Donald Trump ran for president. In a 2025 interview with Vanity Fair, the CNN news anchor said, "If I hadn't worked at the Daily Caller, I don't know if I'd be covering Trump." She noted that being at that publication meant she interacted with several people who supported the acclaimed businessman running for president, including Carlson, who was nixed from Fox because of his strong personality; being around those people assisted with her Trump coverage.

"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 further explained about her coverage that stemmed from her time at The Daily Caller. She later became the White House Correspondent at that publication before transitioning to a role at CNN.

Despite starting her career working with Tucker Carlson, Kaitlan Collins became famous for reporting at CNN, where she began in 2017. By 2020, the journalist was promoted to the chief White House Correspondent when she was 28 years old, making her the youngest person to ever fill this role at CNN. However, this gem that CNN gained quickly became a thorn in Donald Trump's side.

In 2018, Collins was banned from a White House press conference after questioning President Trump on two topics he had been tiptoeing around – Michael Cohen, his former lawyer, and President Vladimir Putin. "They said that the questions I asked were inappropriate for that venue. And they said I was shouting," Collins explained to CNN following her ban. The network defended her, stating, "This decision to bar a member of the press is retaliatory in nature and not indicative of an open and free press. We demand better." Even in President Trump's second term, which began in 2025, Collins ran into roadblocks in her reporting when she butted heads with the White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, who refused to let the CNN journalist ask follow-up questions.

Further, President Trump, who is locked in a bitter feud with Collins, told the journalist that she lacked credibility after she questioned him about deportation in April 2025. But Collins never lets these instances get to her, as she told Vanity Fair, "My feeling is to not take it personally because if you respond to that, then it's getting away from the point of the question we're asking." Collins will likely continue to have conflict with the White House as she continues her style of political reporting that has propelled her career since her days at the Daily Caller.