CNN's Kaitlan Collins Named to Fill Chris Cuomo's Former Primetime Slot, One Week After Trump Town Hall

According to a letter sent to staffers by CNN CEO Chris Licht, Collins "will transition off CNN This Morning, which will be led by Poppy Harlow alongside a rotation of CNN guest anchors"

Kaitlan Collins will soon host a CNN primetime show, the network announced Wednesday.

Collins, currently the co-host of CNN This Morning alongside Poppy Harlow (and previously Don Lemon), will in June begin anchoring the 9 p.m. time slot once occupied by Chris Cuomo.

According to a letter sent to staffers by CNN CEO Chris Licht, Collins "will transition off CNN This Morning, which will be led by Poppy Harlow alongside a rotation of CNN guest anchors."

Licht added that the network "will have more information and announcements to share in the months ahead but in the meantime CTM is in good hands with Poppy."

"I'm grateful and excited to join CNN's primetime lineup for a new show that will feature sharp interviews, fresh reporting and thoughtful conversations on the top stories that are driving the news cycle," Collins, 31, said in a statement. "I'm so thankful for my friend and co-anchor Poppy and will be cheering on the CNN This Morning team every day."

Related:The Biggest Takeaways from CNN's Controversial Town Hall with Donald Trump

Collins recently served as moderator for the network's controversial town hall event with Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump.

The network was criticizing for hosting Trump, who one day earlier was found liable by a jury for sexually abusing and defaming former Elle advice columnist E. Jean Carroll.

The criticism came both before and after CNN aired the special, which saw Trump, 76, largely steamroll Collins, making an array of false claims that at times went unchecked (all while the audience laughed, even when the former president made light of Carroll's sexual assault claims).

Related:Don Lemon Fired by CNN: 'I Am Stunned'

Collins has also been in the headlines due to her former co-host's recent exit from CNN, which was announced in April.

Collins spoke briefly about Lemon when she and Harlow returned to the air to host CNN This Morning for the first time since Lemon's firing was announced.

"Don was a big part of the show over the last six months," Collins said at the time. "He was one of the first anchors on CNN to have me on his show. That's something I'll obviously never forget ... We wish him the best."

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Harlow, 40, and Collins had co-hosted the show alongside Lemon, 57, since its creation in November 2022.

But in April, Lemon was ousted from the network in an announcement that stunned not only viewers but also the anchor himself, who claimed his agent was tasked with telling him the news.

"After 17 years at CNN I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly," he noted on Twitter.

Soon after Lemon's tweet, CNN pushed back on how his termination unfolded.

"Don Lemon's statement about this morning's events is inaccurate," CNN Communications tweeted. "He was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter."

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