President Donald Trump tore into corporate media figures and other critics with a barrage of jokes at Friday night’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, prompting CNN to issue a statement defending their “integrity and fair mindedness.”
Trump’s speech featured a mix of jabs at journalists, political figures, and cultural controversies, continuing his long-running practice of utilizing humor while attacking critics. While several corporate media outlets and critics dismissed the performance as awkward or ineffective, supporters applauded the president’s willingness to mock members of the press during the annual event, which was rescheduled after an attempted assassination of Trump abruptly ended its programming in April.
Trump notably took aim at CNN’s Kaitlin Collins, joking he initially thought she had landed a Bud Light sponsorship before realizing “it wasn’t her on the can, it was Dylan Mulvaney,” referencing the transgender-identifying influencer. Mulvaney entered into a partnership with the beer brand in 2023 which prompted a significant boycott effort and the placing on leave, at a minimum, of the executive who greenlit it.
“We stand by our journalists and the integrity and fair mindedness with which the CNN team reports the news,” CNN Worldwide Chairman and CEO Mark Thomposon responded in an early Saturday statement. “Honest, accurate journalism may sometimes irritate politicians, but our right to report and present that reporting to the public without government interference is fully protected by the U.S. Constitution. CNN will continue to exercise this right.”
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) July 25, 2026
CNN Business’s headline also described Trump as “bombing” to “prove a point.” The president, however, ended his remarks on a conciliatory note.
“I have tremendous respect for the people in this room,” he said. “Sometimes I don’t feel you treat me fair. Maybe you do. I don’t know. I don’t feel that, but sometimes you treat me very fairly. And I have a lot of respect for your profession. Your profession, it’s amazing. And I just wanna thank you for having me. And it’s been fun, and I’ve met a lot of great people. And, you know — I used an expression and I’ve used it right from the beginning — I did this for one reason, to make America great again. And that’s what’s happening right before your very eyes. We have made America great again, and it’s gonna get a lot greater. So thank you all very much. It’s an honor to be with you.”
(DCNF)