Awkward moment Bill Maher tears into CNN's Kaitlan Collins over left-wing network's 'gushing' over Kamala Harris

Late night host Bill Maher tore into CNN's Kaitlan Collins about the left-wing network's 'gushing' over Vice President Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention.

Maher, the host of Real Time with Bill Maher, sat down with the CNN anchor on his show Friday to ask about the network's journalistic integrity, as she insisted the cable news network was objective.

He mentioned the awkward moment last week when Stephen Colbert's audience laughed after he referred to the network as 'objective.' 

'I'm a big rooter for CNN, but that tells you a lot, doesn't it,' Maher, whose own show airs on the network Saturday nights, pressed the journalist.

'How do you guys think you're doing in the arena of like, "This is a terribly divided country. We're not only politicized, a lot of people just hate the other side." 

'And CNN, in my view, should be the place where both sides can watch. How do you think you're doing with that?'

But Collins claimed CNN is 'the place where both sides can watch.'

'My show is evidence of that,' she asserted. 'We have lawmakers from both parties. We'll have Elizabeth Warren on one night, we'll have Ted Cruz on another night... I mean, look at what just happened in Chicago.

'We had 300 people from CNN on the ground covering that convention. There were  several reporters from just our team alone on the floor bringing it in real time to people.

'And I think CNN puts resources behind things, and just brings a level of news that you don't get anywhere else.'

But Maher interjected, saying, 'I'm talking about the people on CNN. And I know what the conservative side of America thinks. And I don't blame them.'

He then pointed to CNN's coverage of Harris' convention speech on Thursday night, noting that she wrapped up her speech at 11.09pm EST.

'It wasn't until 11:23 til the one conservative guy. What's his name?'

'Scott Jennings,' Collins replied, referring to a Republican political strategist.

'Lonely Scott I call him,' Maher retorted, at which point Collins noted that lobbyist David Urban was also there.

'From 8:09 to 8:23 [Pacific Time], they were just gushing about how great a speech it was,' Maher said of the CNN panel.

'And I think she did fine. I didn't think it was as good as they were making it up to be. 

'But if I'm a conservative in America and I'm watching CNN just for the straight middle of the road, that's what I hear for 15 minutes. "It's great."

'And then Lonely Scott,' he said.

'It does look like tokenism. It's kind of like the same as "The View." It's like it's almost better to have nobody there, like MSNBC.'

Still, Collins pushed back at Maher's characterization of the network.

'I don't think you could say it's better to have nobody there, and then also lament the fact you don't think the conservative guy, Scott Jennings - who is great and we have him on my show all the time - spoke up early enough,' she argued.

'It was a Democratic convention, they turned to Democrats... for their analysis of this. And I don't think you could say that CNN is anything but fair, I mean we covered President Biden's exit from the race very closely, the pressure on him to get out.

'And I feel like I can speak with authority on this,' Collins continued. 

'I'm from Alabama. I'm from a very red state. I have a very conservative family. A lot of them are Trump voters.

'They watch my show every night, and I think they know they can trust me, that, you know, we call bulls**** on every side, not just whatever leaning our audience may be, and I think that's something that people actually want more of.

'And everyone who was speaking last night, it's not like they were all Democrats,' she added. 'I mean Dana Bash, Jake Tapper, Abby Phillip, all my amazing colleagues - they came across giving analysis.'

'They come across that way,' Maher agreed, though he continued to argue that the coverage was imbalanced.

'In a moment like this, it was like five-to-one. It always looks five-to-one,' he argued. 

The awkward interview came just days after Collins was slammed by conservatives for failing to challenge Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's disputed claims about Donald Trump.

She interviewed Shapiro from the floor of the Democratic National Convention Tuesday night, and asked him about Trump's claims that antisemitism led him to be passed over to be Harris' running mate. 

'Donald Trump has absolutely no credibility to speak on that issue,' Shapiro said. 'He is a person who has acted bigoted, he is a person who spreads hate.'

He then spoke about Trump's reaction to the Charlottesville riot in 2017, saying that Trump's reaction to the neo-Nazis chanting 'Jews will not replace us' was to say 'there are good people on both sides. There were not good people on both sides!'

This claim has been disputed by multiple fact checkers, including Snopes and PolitiFact, who note that Trump was referring to neo-Nazis and white nationalists, but to protesters and counter-protesters addressing the initial reason for the gathering: the removal of a Confederate statue.

The former president, in the same press conference days after the riot, that neo-Nazis and white nationalists should be 'condemned totally'.

This led many to slam Collins - a veteran of the conservative leaning Daily Caller - for not pushing back on Shapiro's already disputed claims.

John LeFevre wrote: 'Here's Gov. Josh Shapiro knowingly and intentionally repeating the Charlottesville lie to paint Donald Trump as a 'bigot.' @kaitlancollins - who is quick to push back on Republicans - does nothing to correct him. 

'This is not journalism.'