Following Katie Zacharia’s first White House press briefing as President Trump’s new Press Secretary on Tuesday, CNN’s co-hosts of The Situation Room mocked the “few questions” asked, claiming the reporters “were basically sympathetic, supportive of the Trump administration.” They even trotted out a former Clinton Press Secretary and praised him for how good he used to be.
The bashing of Zacharia’s press briefing erupted with CNN’s chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins' report on the minimal questions asked by reporters, with comment on the duration of the briefing taking only 15 minutes. Co-host Pamela Brown laughed at Zacharia’s end to the briefing, quoting that when she “closed her binder, I thought, wait, this couldn't be it, right? And sure enough, sure enough that that was it.”
CNN is not a fan of today's short press briefing and try to mock it. "When she when she closed her binder, I thought, wait, this couldn't be it, right?" Pamela Brown. https://t.co/OQgWYQIf10
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 13, 2026
Other co-host Wolf Blitzer was also sure to comment on the number of questions, and who asked them. Parroting Brown’s comment of the lack of questions, Blitzer was convinced that “the few questions that were asked were all asked by reporters who were basically sympathetic, supportive of the Trump administration.”
Collins went on the defense to detail the questions that were asked, specifically with Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy’s question on Ukraine:
Well, I mean, I think that they can still get tough questions. Peter Doocy from Fox News had asked if they were sharing intelligence with Ukraine still, or if they had stopped doing so. That is something that our reports that are coming out of Ukraine this morning, Wolf, as I'm sure that you and Pamela have seen, especially as the President himself has been saying, that Zelensky should be replaced as the leader of Ukraine.
In continuation on the complexity of the questions, Collins elaborated on Zacharia’s answer to Trump’s decision on Russian oil and Kimberly Guilfoyle’s future as U.S. Ambassador to Greece (Click “expand”):
Amid that fight over his announcement that he was buying Russian oil, something the President himself has criticized other countries for doing and now says the United States is going to do three weeks after he signed a sanctions law that would tariff anyone and sanction people who buy Russian oil. And so, Katie Zacharia did not have an answer to that question. She said that she would have to check and get back on whether or not the United States is still sharing intelligence with Ukraine and its partners.
And then there was a question about Kimberly Guilfoyle. That's when she made that news that she was resigning, or that she'd been asked to resign from that job.
Wolf Blitzer is slipping bad. He tries to claim Katie Zacharia only took softball questions from friendly media but chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins has to pop his bubble and admit the questions were not easy, fair, and generated major news about Guilfoyle being asked to resign.
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 13, 2026
Blitzer claimed his last chance to stab at Zacharia’s performance in a conversation with former Clinton White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart. Before glazing Lockhart for his resume history, Blitzer walked down memory lane, recalling his time as CNN’s White House correspondent:
I remember those days when you were the White House Press Secretary, Joe. I was the CNN White House Correspondent for seven years. So, I remember all those briefings. I was sitting up near the front of that briefing room all the time. And you were available.
You were ready to answer questions, and we all simply assumed, based on your knowledge, that you were speaking not just for the President, but for the entire U.S. Government at that time. Answering serious, substantive questions, not just on national security, foreign policy, but on domestic issues as well.
In an attempt to belittle her performance even further, Blitzer questioned whether Zacharia possessed “the qualifications to do the job?” This warranted Lockhart’s response: “Well, she doesn't have the qualifications to do the job the way I would define it, in a way, traditionally it's been defined,” giving Blitzer the exact answer he wanted.
The irony of Lockhart’s comment came as no surprise, given his history with the Clinton Administration and his utmost pleasure to protect the appearance of Clinton’s happy family, which obviously wasn’t true. The real question should be whether or not he had the qualifications.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CNN’s The Situation Room
October 13, 2026
10:01:39 a.m. Eastern(...)
KAITLAN COLLINS: But, yeah, Wolf, I'm just I'm a little surprised–
PAMELA BROWN: You’re speechless!
COLLINS: I've never really seen a briefing where there weren't, um, I mean, I've seen a few where there's only a couple of questions, but I've never seen one where there was only three questions taken during an entire press briefing.
So, that was unusual. So, I'm not really sure. I mean, it started 15 minutes ago, so I don't really know what to say.
BROWN: You're still processing it, Kaitlan. I know when she, when she closed her binder, I thought, wait, this couldn't be it, right? And sure enough, sure enough that that was it. So, perhaps in the future she'll take more questions from reporters like yourself, Kaitlan.
(...)
10:03:34 a.m. Eastern
(...)WOLF BLITZER:And you noticed, I'm sure you did, Kaitlan, that the initial questions, and there weren't many, but the few questions that were asked were all asked by reporters who were basically sympathetic, supportive of the Trump administration. Is that right?
COLLINS: Well, I mean, I think that they can still get tough questions. Peter Doocy from Fox News had asked if they were sharing intelligence with Ukraine still, or if they had stopped doing so. That is something that our reports that are coming out of Ukraine this morning, Wolf, as I'm sure that you and Pamela have seen, especially as the President himself has been saying, that Zelensky should be replaced as the leader of Ukraine.
Amid that fight over his announcement that he was buying Russian oil, something the President himself has criticized other countries for doing and now says the United States is going to do three weeks after he signed a sanctions law that would tariff anyone and sanction people who buy Russian oil. And so, Katie Zacharia did not have an answer to that question. She said that she would have to check and get back on whether or not the United States is still sharing intelligence with Ukraine and its partners.
And then there was a question about Kimberly Guilfoyle. That's when she made that news that she was resigning, or that she'd been asked to resign from that job. But, Wolf, that was pretty much it for this press briefing.
BLITZER: Yeah, interesting indeed.
(...)
10:55:49 a.m. Eastern
(...)
BLITZER: I remember those days when you were the White House Press Secretary, Joe. I was the CNN White House Correspondent for seven years. So, I remember all those briefings. I was sitting up near the front of that briefing room all the time. And you were available.
You were ready to answer questions, and we all simply assumed, based on your knowledge, that you were speaking not just for the President, but for the entire U.S. Government at that time. Answering serious, substantive questions, not just on national security, foreign policy, but on domestic issues as well. Based on what you saw and heard so far, does she have the qualifications to do the job?
JOE LOCKHART: Well, she doesn't have the qualifications to do the job the way I would define it, in a way, traditionally it's been defined.
(...)
