A single question about impeaching the defense secretary was all it took to send the president after the CNN correspondent who asked it.
President Donald Trump called CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins a loser from the podium of the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room on Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, during an unannounced appearance that came less than a week after the midterm rout that handed Democrats control of Congress.
UFC CEO Dana White stood beside him at the podium. Collins asked whether Trump would stand behind Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth if the House impeached him, and the president said he would, telling the room that the Pentagon chief “won two wars” — a reference that seemed to cover the Venezuela strike as well as the ongoing war with Iran.
Rep. Thomas Massie, the outgoing Kentucky Republican, had accused Hegseth of carrying out an illegal act, and Collins pressed the president on that charge. Trump answered with insults: “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.”
Trump then turned the question around on earlier wars, asking reporters why no one moved to impeach the men who ran Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth in the House that same day, Nov. 9. The articles charge that he went to war in breach of the War Powers Resolution and disregarded civilian-protection laws. They further allege that he ordered extrajudicial killings, cracked down on free speech, seized a sovereign leader and ran an unlawful war in Yemen. No court or panel has adjudicated the allegations.
The articles also cited the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro without congressional authorization, U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, and an effort to punish Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., over a video telling service members they can refuse illegal orders.
Massie had tried once before to force an impeachment vote, ahead of the midterms. Speaker Mike Johnson called an early recess to avoid it, the resolution expired, and Massie reintroduced it Nov. 9.
Members voted 211-204 in the House on Tuesday, Nov. 10, to send the articles to committee, a move that effectively ended the impeachment push. On election night, Sen. Ted Cruz had predicted an impeachment of Hegseth by the House during the lame-duck session.
Democrats have promised investigations into Hegseth’s Pentagon once they take the majority in January. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, expected to be the next Speaker, said of Hegseth in a recent interview, “He’s got to go.”
Hegseth called Massie a “disgruntled and defeated congressman” at his Pentagon news conference on Nov. 10. “I stand behind every one of these operations,” he told reporters. Hegseth, 46, carries a net approval rating of -29 points.
Calling Anyone Else a Loser
CNN anchor Jake Tapper played the exchange on Monday’s episode of “The Lead” and delivered his own verdict. “Kind of incredible to hear President Trump, after last Tuesday’s results, calling anyone else a loser,” Tapper told viewers.
Tapper also wrote on X that voters in state after state — Texas, Kansas, Iowa, Ohio and Georgia — had just rejected one participant’s conduct, his hand-picked candidates and his policies, and that the person was not Collins.
Collins, who is from Alabama, posted a clip of the clash on social media 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 the president berated her on live television.
A UFC Boss at the Podium
Collins also asked White whether he had told the president no to the press secretary job. White said he does not tell the president no to anything, that he had never said no, and that every media outlet was calling him while he waited for Trump to speak first. “I have zero political aspirations,” White told the briefing.
He learned of the post while abroad. “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 explained the offer this way: the White House was having a very bad press day when White’s name occurred to him, so he posted it. Reporters then wrote the story straight, and White turned up at the briefing regardless. He was “sort of kidding,” Trump said.
A Truth Social post over the weekend carried Trump’s request that White bring along a staff of fighters — Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaethje, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes and Kayla Harris — to take on what he called the Lunatic Left.
Other business filled the briefing long after the UFC detour ended. Trump, 80, had met Qatari officials earlier in the day and gave an update on the Iran war, called the midterm result ridiculous and railed about the stock market sliding after the vote. Democrats flipped traditional Republican strongholds in that election, including Texas, Kansas and South Carolina. He repeated his support for a posthumous pardon for baseball great Pete Rose and defended his decision to install Stephen Miller as chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles, who stepped down.
She Has Been Here Before
Collins has drawn the president’s fire before. He admonished her for not smiling enough, described her as a “very average person” in an interview with Time ahead of the midterms, and called her a “SLEAZEBAG” on Truth Social.
Other female journalists have taken similar fire. 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.
Trump said Thursday, Nov. 12, that former Apple CEO Tim Cook should replace Jensen Huang, who resigned as CEO of Nvidia. “A Legend replaces a Legend!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.