CNN may finally have found its permanent weekday 9 p.m. host: Kaitlan Collins.
Puck’s Dylan Byers is reporting that CNN CEO Chris Licht plans to offer Collins—co-anchor of CNN This Morning—a new contract to serve as host of the network’s key 9 p.m. hour.
CNN did not comment on the report.
The weekday 9 p.m. timeslot has been vacant since December 2021, when CNN fired Chris Cuomo. If the Puck report is accurate, Collins and Cuomo would share something in common: Each held court in the AM before getting their own 9 p.m. show.
Collins has been a co-anchor and chief correspondent for CNN This Morning since the show’s November 2022 debut. Assuming Collins accepts the offer, it remains to be seen who will join Poppy Harlow as the new co-anchor on the program. Don Lemon is no longer with the show. He and CNN parted ways 16 days ago.
The Puck report published a few hours before Collins was scheduled to moderate a live CNN town hall featuring former President Donald Trump. Wednesday’s town hall broadcast live from St. Anselm College in New Hampshire is easily the most high-profile and heavily-scrutinized network telecast of the Licht era.
At 31 years old, Collins is considered a rising star at CNN. She joined the network as a White House reporter in 2017 covering then-President Trump. and was promoted to CNN chief White House correspondent in January 2021. She left the White House beat last fall and moved to New York to co-anchor CNN This Morning.
Before joining CNN, Collins was White House correspondent for The Daily Caller, a conservative digital news outlet founded by Tucker Carlson. She also covered the 2016 presidential campaign for the website, while also leading its entertainment coverage.