Thanks to valiant efforts from on-air personalities Kasie Hunt and Kaitlan Collins, CNN managed to deliver two acts of actual journalism in the same 24-hour period — on two different topics.
The first came on Monday evening from Collins, who was discussing the political hot topics of the day with Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) on “The Source” and took a moment to fact-check the Texas Democrat when she played fast and loose with the context of a statement made earlier in the day by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
WATCH:
Jasmine Crockett immediately runs the debunked “Trump’s main priority is the ballroom” hoax on her CNN hit.
The lie is so egregious, she actually gets fact-checked by Kaitlan Collins. https://t.co/HRfeoTZ3ys pic.twitter.com/lvdp4gkuGu
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) October 28, 2025
When asked whether she thought the ongoing government shutdown was likely to end any time soon, Crockett attempted to make it look like President Donald Trump was going out of his way to prioritize other things.
“The president has time to do everything but what he needs to focus on. In fact, we heard the press secretary say his main priority is the ballroom — the ballroom that no one asked for. The ballroom that requires him to destroy historic pieces of the White House. And so it doesn’t seem like he’s interested [in the shutdown],” Crockett claimed.
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Collins pushed back immediately, noting that Leavitt had said the ballroom was the president’s top priority — but that she had been specifically referring to construction and renovation projects at the White House.
“Yeah, and that context of the comment from Karoline Leavitt, she was asked if the president was working on any other renovations when it came to the White House, and she was saying his focus was the ballroom,” Collins said.
WATCH:
Karoline Leavitt was asked if “the president is looking at any other renovations” at the White House?
Karoline answered: “At this moment in time of course, the ballroom is really the president’s main priority.”
This is how easily Democrats lie about stupid stuff. https://t.co/qGuZkvYYPV pic.twitter.com/1fBzh8sdRN
— Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) October 23, 2025
Less than 24 hours later, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) joined host Kasie Hunt to discuss the ongoing shutdown — and she pressed him repeatedly on his party’s evolving position on keeping the government shuttered in order to leverage political gains.
WATCH:
Ruben Gallego just got wrecked on CNN for his hypocritical stance on shutdowns reverting to a “BUT TRUMP” response:
Host: “Why is it suddenly right to do it this way?”
Gallego: “It’s DONALD TRUMP … it’s all out the window Casey.”
There is nothing that Democrats have aside… pic.twitter.com/sZKARGLRKA
— Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) October 28, 2025
“So I think my question is this, I mean, I take your point about these millions of people, the cost of living is incredibly high, but also Republicans control the White House, they control the Senate, they control the House, and in the past, Democrats, when Republicans have tried to do something like this, Democrats have argued that the norms of our government should be that you negotiate policy outside of a government shutdown,” Hunt confronted Gallego right from the start. “I mean, over many years covering Washington, people have said that over and over and over again.”
“Now I have neighbors in the D.C. area who are both employed by the federal government who are having to use food banks. We are heading into Thanksgiving. Why is it suddenly right to do it this way and to do it for this long when it didn’t used to be the right way in Democrats’ view?” Hunt asked directly.
“Oh, that’s an easy answer. It’s Donald Trump,” Gallego replied, spinning quickly to change the topic. “You’re talking about norms in the time of Donald Trump? It’s also normal not for you to tear down the East Wing.”
Hunt did not budge: “Right, but Democrats have spent so much time arguing about how maintaining those norms is actually incredibly important in the face of Donald Trump.”
“It doesn’t. It’s all out the window. It is all out of the window, Kasie,” Gallego insisted, arguing that because he and Democrats did not like what Trump was doing, they were justified in breaking rules in order to level the playing field. “No. When you’re doing this time with Donald Trump, this is the man that is extorting people. He’s literally breaking every rule. We’re not going to go back and play by the norms when we know that’s what’s on the line. What’s on the line is 24 million people are going to have their insurance rates premiums doubled. That’s a new thing, by the way. And the fact is the president and everyone expects us to play by these old norms.”
“But didn’t Democrats kind of set that up in the bill that you passed, though, that these subsidies were going to expire?” Hunt was clearly not convinced.
Gallego admitted that Hunt was, in fact, correct — but once again attempted to spin, blaming Republicans for not wanting to pony up billions of taxpayer dollars to fund endless subsidies, all just to rescue the Affordable Care Act they hadn’t supported in the first place.
“When we passed the bills and back in the day, as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, of course we were trying to maybe hope for the best that this country and our Republican colleagues would understand that raising insurance rates on people is a bad thing. I’m sorry they don’t see it that way, but it’s also not my job to make their job easier,” he said. “My job is to make sure that the premiums of 24 million Americans does not double overnight. And if it makes it harder on the Republicans that we’re putting them in a very difficult position, then they have to answer for that … But I’m not gonna abide by old norms, especially when you’re dealing with this presidency, this administration, and how the Republicans themselves have been acting.”
