CNN boldly defends their reporter Kaitlan Collins after Trump insulted her as the "worst reporter" and attacked her for being a "young woman" who doesn't "smile" after she asked about the Epstein files.

She really struck a deep nerve this time...

“Kaitlan Collins is an exceptional journalist, reporting every day from the White House and the field with real depth and tenacity," the network stated. "She skillfully brings that reporting to the anchor chair and CNN platforms every day, which audiences around the world know they can trust."

The statement was prompted by the "smilegate" incident earlier today-

"You talked about Democrats who were in [the Epstein files]. Elon Musk was also in there, and so was your Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and correspondence that he had with him," Collins said to Trump in the Oval Office. "Did you read those new files that were published by the Department of Justice?"

"No I didn't uh... I have a lot of things I'm doing. A lot of things I'm doing. I don't know," said Trump, who is currently fixated on building his $200 million ballroom and renovating the Kennedy Center. "You mentioned two names. I'm sure they're fine. I'm sure they're fine. Otherwise, it would have been major headlines."

"A lot of women who are survivors of Epstein's are unhappy with those redactions that came out. Some of the entire witness interviews are totally blacked out," pressed Collins. "Do you think that they should be more transparent?"

The recent tranche of Epstein documents do indeed contain an alarming number of redactions that were clearly designed to hide the identities of powerful people. The only legitimate reason for redactions would be to hide images or the names of victims. Redacting the names of people who emailed and conspired with Epstein is indefensible.

"Well, they're also unhappy with the fact that they thought they released too much. You know, I heard that," said Trump.

"And you tell me something else. I think it's really time for the country to get on to something else, really," he continued. "Now that nothing came out about me, other than there was a conspiracy against me, literally, by Epstein and other people. But I think it's time now for the country to maybe get on to something else, like healthcare, something that people care about."

It's no mystery why Trump wants to move on from the Epstein files. His name is all over them, including heinous allegations that Trump raped, abused, and threatened children. And those are just the files where his name hasn't been redacted. Who knows where else he would be named if the black bars were removed or the rest of the files were released.

"What would you say to the survivors?" asked Collins.

"You are so bad. You are the worst reporter," snapped Trump. "No wonder CNN has no ratings because of people like you. You know, she's a young woman. I don't think I've ever seen you smile. I've known you for ten years. I don't think I've ever seen a smile on your face."

"I'm asking about survivors," interjected Collins.

"You know why? You know why you're not smiling? Because you know you're not telling the truth," Trump said. "And you're you're a very dishonest organization. And they should be ashamed of you."

Deploying a sexist trope like "you should smile more" to a female reporter in the midst of her asking about the sexual abuse of young girls is a disgusting new low for Trump. But at this point, what else do we expect from this demented old pedophile?

Collins appeared on CNN later and spoke to Jake Tapper about the incident. She valiantly chose to focus on the survivors rather than on herself-

“Jake, this is something where the survivors here have been at the center of this, and they have been the people who have said they're unhappy with what has come out of the Justice Department here so far," Collins said. "I just spoke to one on Friday night who was saying that entire witness interviews with the FBI were redacted. The entire page was blacked out. And so these are real questions."

“As the President is saying, it's time to move on there's many people, including a lot of his own supporters, who do not feel that way," Collins added.