WATCH: Mike Waltz Tells Kaitlan Collins She Has No ‘Inherent Right’ to White House Access

Adriana Stone 0 2 min read

WATCH: Mike Waltz Tells Kaitlan Collins She Has No ‘Inherent Right’ to White House Access

CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins pressed United Nations Ambassador Mike Waltz during an interview outside the United Nations building on the night before President Trump’s address to the organization.

Instead of focusing on Trump’s upcoming speech or Waltz’s ideas for United Nations reform, Collins centered the conversation on the administration’s decision to limit CNN’s access to the White House. Waltz pushed back on the way she framed the dispute.

Waltz argued that CNN’s ability to report is separate from whether the network has automatic access to every government facility. He pointed to multiple Supreme Court cases involving access to government institutions. Collins challenged his reading of those cases and argued that outlets cannot be excluded based on their viewpoint or reporting.

When Collins kept returning to the claim that Trump had effectively banned CNN, Waltz reminded her that he was speaking to CNN at that very moment. He also noted that he had appeared on CNN on Sunday morning.

WATCH:

The exchange included this back-and-forth:

WALTZ: You just ignored what I said. You don’t have an inherent right to any government facility you want, whether it’s Langley or the White House. And that has been determined by multiple Supreme Court cases in the 60,70, and as recently as a few years ago…

COLLINS: But actually that case…

WALTZ: That’s an important distinction.

COLLINS: I remember you said that to Dana Bash on Sunday. That case found that… Reporters don’t have carte blanche to do everything, but you can’t just ban outlets based on their viewpoint or reporting.

WALTZ: He’s not saying, “Don’t go out and report.” Heck, we’re talking right now! I hope we can talk about the reforms we’re going to do in the United Nations… But if we want to spend the entire time talking about this, fine.

COLLINS: But didn’t the president ban free outlets from…

WALTZ: I’m standing here talking to CNN right now, and you just referenced when I was on CNN on Sunday morning. That is very different than when you have access to every government institution.

COLLINS: The president is now making an argument that it’s a national security threat (for CNN to have access to White House). He did not make that argument Friday, Saturday, or Sunday…

WALTZ: I think when we have outlets relying on anonymous sources, talking about the levels of munition in the middle of conflict, vulnerabilities, deployment orders… that are highly classified, that’s absolutely a national security threat and should be investigated and prosecuted.

That final exchange came after Collins raised Trump’s national-security argument. She pointed out that the administration had not made that case on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Waltz responded that reporting based on anonymous sources about munition levels, vulnerabilities, and deployment orders can involve highly classified information.

The interview ultimately became a clash over three separate issues: CNN’s ability to report, its access to the White House, and the national-security implications of reporting on information Waltz characterized as highly classified. Waltz repeatedly drew a line between reporting freely and having guaranteed access to every government institution.

He also tried to redirect the discussion toward reforms at the United Nations. Collins continued pressing him on the White House access dispute, while Waltz rejected the idea that limiting facility access amounted to banning CNN from reporting.

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