One question about impeaching the defense secretary was all it took for the president to turn on the CNN correspondent who asked it.
President Donald Trump, 80, called CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins a loser from the podium of the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room during an unannounced appearance on Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, alongside UFC CEO Dana White.
The appearance came less than a week after the midterm rout that handed Democrats control of Congress. Would an impeachment vote in the House cost Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth the president’s support? Collins put that question to Trump, who answered that his backing would hold, and claimed Hegseth “won two wars” — seemingly the Venezuela strike and the ongoing war with Iran.
Collins pressed the president on Rep. Thomas Massie, the outgoing Kentucky Republican, who had accused Hegseth of committing an illegal act. Trump said, "Massie’s a loser, just like you’re a loser at CNN, just like your ratings are a loser.” He added, “Massie is a loser, stone cold loser.”
Earlier conflicts became Trump’s answer. He asked reporters why no one had moved to impeach the men who ran Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Massie’s Second Try at Impeachment
Massie reintroduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth in the House that same day. The charges say the defense secretary went to war in breach of the War Powers Resolution, disregarded civilian-protection laws, ordered extrajudicial killings, cracked down on free speech, seized a sovereign leader and ran an unlawful war in Yemen. No court or chamber has adjudicated the allegations.
Massie also sought to oust Hegseth, 46, over the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro without congressional authorization, and over the effort to punish Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., for a video telling service members they can refuse illegal orders. The articles cite strikes against Iran and on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean. Hegseth carries a net approval rating of -29 points.
Monday’s filing was Massie’s second attempt. He sought a floor vote before the midterms, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., called an early recess in response, and that resolution expired. Massie reintroduced it Nov. 9.
Members voted 211-204 to send the articles to committee, a step that effectively ended the impeachment push. The House took that vote on Tuesday, Nov. 10. Democrats promised vigorous investigations into Hegseth’s Pentagon once they take the majority in January.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, expected to be the next Speaker, was asked about Hegseth in a recent interview. “He’s got to go,” Jeffries said.
Hegseth defended the operations behind the impeachment articles at a Pentagon press conference earlier that day. “I stand behind every one of these operations,” he said, calling Massie a “disgruntled and defeated congressman.”
Journalists at that event got a warning from security that unprofessional conduct would get them physically removed. Asked whether shouting a question would count, the agent gave no answer. Sen. Ted Cruz had predicted on election night that the House would impeach Hegseth during the lame-duck session.
Tapper Replays the Clash on Air
CNN anchor Jake Tapper played the exchange on Monday’s episode of “The Lead.” “Kind of incredible to hear President Trump, after last Tuesday’s results, calling anyone else a loser,” Tapper told viewers.
Voters had just rejected one participant’s conduct, his hand-picked candidates and his policies, Tapper wrote on X, naming the states in turn — Texas, Kansas, Iowa, Ohio and Georgia. That person was not Collins.
Collins, who is from Alabama, posted a clip of the clash with a caption noting that the president had told her he would back Hegseth even if the House impeached him. Commenters praised her for staying unfazed while berated on live television.
The UFC Boss at the Podium
The press secretary job came up as well, with Collins asking whether White had turned the president down. He does not tell the president no to anything, White answered, and never said no, and every media outlet was calling him while he waited for Trump to speak first. “I have zero political aspirations,” White said.
“I was at a fight for Zuffa Boxing in London when he called me and told me that he had done this, and the last 24 hours of my life have been insane,” White said.
Trump gave his own account of the offer: the White House was having a very bad press day, White’s name came to him, he posted it, a story was written as if he meant it, and White came by anyway. He said he was “sort of kidding.” A roster of fighters should come along too, Trump had written in a weekend Truth Social post — Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes and Kayla Harris — to take on what he called the Lunatic Left.
Reporters asked White to break down a hypothetical UFC cage match between Trump and former President Joe Biden. “He’s the toughest, most resilient human being that I’ve ever met in my entire life,” White said of Trump.
Trump used the rest of the briefing to update reporters on the Iran war after meeting Qatari officials earlier in the day, to call the midterm result ridiculous and to rail about the stock market sliding after the vote. Democrats flipped traditional Republican strongholds including Texas, Kansas and South Carolina.
He repeated his support for a posthumous pardon for baseball great Pete Rose and defended installing Stephen Miller as chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles, who stepped down. Trump also defended Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, then under investigation over an affair with an alleged Chinese spy, saying he had called to check on him and that Huang told him he had no idea the person was a spy. Huang resigned as CEO on Thursday, Nov. 12, and Trump said Apple’s Tim Cook should take his place.
He Told Her to Smile
Trump and Collins have clashed before. He admonished her for not smiling enough and described her as a "very average person" in an interview with Time ahead of the midterms. He called her a "SLEAZEBAG" on Truth Social.
Other female journalists have drawn the same treatment. Trump blasted Washington Post reporter Natalie Allison over questions about his deportation strategy, told Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey “quiet, piggy!” when she raised the Epstein files, and called “60 Minutes” correspondent Norah O’Donnell a “disgrace” for asking about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
