CNN halts for breaking news alert in humiliating blow to Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump was skewered in a brutal rant by CNN anchor and Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins after he hit out at the media. Speaking at the Oval Office on September 19th, Trump spoke about the negative coverage he had been receiving, as he said: " I'm a very strong person for free speech."

"But 97, 94, 95, 96% of the people are against me in the sense of the newscasts are against me. The stories are- they said 97% bad. So, they gave me 97, they'll take a great story, and they'll make it bad. See, I think that's really illegal, personally."

Trump then said that the coverage was "no longer free speech. That's no longer anything. That's just cheating."

It comes after ABC have pulled Jimmy Kimmel's show off air after his comments about political activist Charlie Kirk's assassination, as he said the "Maga gang" were "desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them" and trying to "score political points from it".

CNN's Kaitlan responded to Trump's statement in a breaking news alert live on air, as she said: "Tonight, President Trump says overly negative coverage of him is illegal, as he is ousting a prosecutor that he picked who declined to indict one of his political opponents without enough evidence.

"President Trump is no longer just suggesting that some TV networks should have their licenses revoked. He now seems to be clearly saying that he - the coverage that he deems to be too negative is illegal.

"Like freedom of the speech, freedom of press is legally protected by the First Amendment. That includes positive and negative coverage. It's not based on percentages either.

"The President, though, seems emboldened today, by ABC's decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel's show off the air, after the network was facing intense pressure from the President's FCC chair.

"Other former and current late-night hosts are coming to Jimmy Kimmel's defense, in recent days, using their own primetime platforms to accuse the administration of trampling on free speech."