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The moment with Trump that CNN's Kaitlin Collins says 'took the cake': 'Never would imagine asking that'

CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins appeared on Thursday’s Late Night With Seth Meyers, along with Dana Bash and Kyung Lah, and spoke about what it was like to ask President Trump about his support for a doctor who believes in demon sex at a recent coronavirus press briefing. After hearing Dr. Stella Immanuel endorse hydroxychloroquine as a cure for the coronavirus, despite multiple studies pointing to the contrary, Trump spoke in support of Immanuel. He was unaware that in the past she has also talked about women being impregnated in their sleep by demons, alien DNA being used in medical treatments, a vaccine to stop people from becoming religious, and reptilians and other aliens being part of our government.

“You never would imagine asking that,” Collins said. “And I even left out the most scandalous parts of this woman’s dissertation that she’s put online. Talking about demon sex. Talking about these things.”

Collins said she did her research on Immanuel, who is also a preacher, to make sure nothing was taken out of context. But it was still challenging figuring out exactly how to ask the president about supporting someone who has made such outrageous claims.

“I actually looked into them, and read and listened to her sermons that she had given because I wanted to make sure I fully understood what she was saying and that it wasn’t being taken out of context, and it wasn’t,” Collins said. “But the question is, how do you sum that up to make it a question in the briefing room?”

When Collins asked Trump about Immanuel and brought up some of her more outlandish ideas, Trump doubled down on his support for Immanuel. When Collins pressed, he walked out of the briefing.

“You saw how the president responded,” Collins said. “I mean, he clearly wasn’t aware of this woman’s statements before. But then even after we had told him what she had said, he stood by her and he continued to elevate her.”

Collins has been present for some astonishing moments at Trump press briefings. She was there when he walked out of a presser in the White House Rose Garden, and she was there when Trump suggested injecting disinfectant to kill the coronavirus, but she said this moment stands out above the rest.

“It’s a remarkable moment when you’re in a pandemic, and we’ve had so many moments where — I was in the briefing room when the bleach/disinfectant suggestion came up from the president,” Collins said. “You’ve been there at other times when he’s left the Rose Garden on us because he didn’t like our questions. But I think truly that this took the cake, having to ask the president about a woman that says she thinks they’re trying to come up with a vaccine so people won’t become religious.”

Late Night With Seth Meyers airs weeknights at 12:35 a.m. on NBC.

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