What we know about CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who has been welcomed into the global Irish family

It only took one tweet from journalist Donie O'Sullivan to make CNN's chief White house correspondent Kaitlan Collins an honorary Irish woman, but she may have an Irish past of her own

Chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins. Picture: CNN

Kerry man and CNN journalist Donie O’Sullivan became a household name in Ireland overnight after he reported live from the riots in Washington DC on January 6. 

O’Sullivan’s cool and collected reporting gained him legions of fans and thousands of new followers on social media. He's now spreading the word about one of his colleagues, chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins, whom O’Sullivan says should be claimed as Irish.

Aged 28, Collins is the youngest chief White House correspondent that CNN has had and as such has been the subject of articles herself, including a recent profile in Forbes. O’Sullivan shared the article on Twitter, musing that as a result “Ireland is definitely going to claim” Collins.

Within minutes, Ireland's Ambassador to the USA, Daniel Mulhall, extended a welcome to Collins on behalf of the global Irish community.

“Welcome to the global Irish Shamrock extended family,” he wrote. 

We all admire your excellent reporting from the White House.

With a name like Kaitlan Collins, it’s likely the young journalist’s ancestors hail from Ireland, although the exact link is not yet clear. However, in 2019, the Washington, DC Young Leaders gathered for their annual ‘Halfway to St Patrick’s Celebration’ and Collins was among those honoured that evening who spoke warmly of their connection to Ireland.

Her father, Jeff Collins, is a senior mortgage banker in Alabama and his daughter earned her degree in political science and journalism from the University of Alabama.

Collins began her career in Washington DC in 2014 as an entertainment reporter with The Daily Caller before becoming the website's White House correspondent in 2017. She joined CNN as a White House correspondent later that year and travelled to at least half a dozen countries with President Trump.

Collins made headlines when she was barred from a Trump administration press conference in the White House Rose Garden in 2018 after she asked the president about Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen while in the Oval Office. Senior White House officials told her such questions were "inappropriate for that venue".

Last month, CNN promoted Collins to chief White House correspondent for the incoming Biden administration.