JD Vance supports Trump criticizing CNN reporter for not smiling after question on Epstein files:...

The vice president's remarks came after his boss called Kaitlan Collins &34;the worst reporter&34; after she asked about survivors of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. JD Vance supports Trump criticizing CNN reporter for not smiling after question on Epstein files: 'Have some fun' The vice president's remarks came after his boss called Kaitlan Collins &34;the worst reporter&34; after she asked about survivors of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. By Ryan Coleman :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/RyanColemanauthorphoto0081ce8f0254478080f35972c433877b.

The vice president's remarks came after his boss called Kaitlan Collins "the worst reporter" after she asked about survivors of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

JD Vance supports Trump criticizing CNN reporter for not smiling after question on Epstein files: 'Have some fun'

The vice president's remarks came after his boss called Kaitlan Collins "the worst reporter" after she asked about survivors of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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February 4, 2026 10:31 p.m. ET

Kaitlan Collins; JD Vance. Credit:

Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty; Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty

Vice President JD Vance thinks that the White House press corps should lighten up a little when asking about such subjects as the survivors of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.**

A day after President Donald Trump attacked CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins for not smiling when she tried to ask him several questions about recently released files pertaining to Epstein, Vance praised his boss as "so perceptive" and said journalists like Collins should "have some fun" as they do their jobs.

"Even if you're asking a tough question, even if you take your job very seriously, why does it always have to be so antagonistic?" Vance asked Megyn Kelly during a segment on Wednesday's episode of her self-titled Sirius XM program. "You can't always take yourself too seriously. You're going to have a heart attack, and that's too much of the Washington press corps."**

The Ohio-born Vance, who entered into politics in 2021 after launching to fame with the publication of his 2016 memoir *Hillbilly Elegy*, characterized his new home base of Washington, D.C., as "a place of very intense egos" where "nobody can tell a joke at their own expense." He then speculated that some White House reporters may secretly welcome Trump — "somebody who will crack a joke every once in a while" — with relief, despite their stated or perceived political opposition.

"If Washington is an insincere place, [Trump] is like the polar opposite. He just says what's on his mind. He doesn't care how anybody's going to react to it. What you see is what you get," he explained. Because of that attribute, which often flares into full display during White House press conferences, Vance believes that "there are some members of the press who kind of like him for it, then some members of the press who don't, and then I think for most members of the press, it's a little bit of both."

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Vance's characterization of the contentious interaction between Trump and Collins during Tuesday's presser did not encompass the full breadth of the president's remarks.

Pursuing a line of questioning pertaining to Jan. 30's release of over 3 million documents from the so-called Epstein files, which has been criticized for both redacting too much information about the late financier's contacts and not redacting enough to protect his alleged victims, Collins asked, "What would you say to people who feel like they haven't gotten justice?" Trump acknowledged he didn't hear Collins and requested that she repeat her question, but as she asked what he would say to survivors, Trump issued a striking condemnation.

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"You are so bad. You know, you are the worst reporter. No wonder... CNN has no ratings because of people like you. She's a young woman — I don't think I've ever seen you smile. I've known you for 10 years. I don't think I've ever seen a smile on your face," he said.

Trump continued to berate the reporter as she replied, "Well, I'm asking you about survivors of Jeffrey Epstein."****

Kaitlan Collins (center) at a White House press conference in 2025.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty

Some of Collins' colleagues rushed to her defense in the wake of the exchange, including CNN's Alyssa Farrah Griffin, who previously worked for Trump during his first term in office.

"Women get the 'Why don't you smile enough?' She's asking a question about survivors of sexual assault," Griffin said on Wednesday's episode of *The View*. "No normal human being would be smiling while asking that."**

Trump, meanwhile, has come under fire for his own connections to Epstein, which he has previously attempted to downplay.

On the Department of Justice's searchable library of documents from the Epstein estate, Donald Trump's name currently appears 1,476 times. Simply searching "Trump" yields 4,818 results. Some of those mentions come from references to Trump in articles sent back and forth between the late, convicted sex offender and various associates. But others shed light on Trump's previously close and well-documented relationship with Epstein.

Trump even threatened legal action against former *The Daily Show *host Trevor Noah over a joke he made while hosting the Grammy Awards on Sunday that linked Trump to Epstein. In a late night Truth Social post Trump shared during the broadcast, he wrote, "I'll be sending my lawyers to sue this poor, pathetic, talentless, dope of an M.C., and suing him for plenty$."**

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Source: Politicians

Published: February 05, 2026 at 06:58AM on Source: MARIO MAG

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