Trump mocks ABC's Cecilia Vega in White House press conference

ABC's Cecilia Vega, a former reporter at the Press Democrat and San Francisco Chronicle, was the target of a combative President Donald Trump for asking questions about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh at the White House on Monday.

Trump called on Vega at the start of the Rose Garden event on trade and appeared to mock her.

“She's shocked that I picked her,” Trump said. “She's, like, in a state of shock.”

He appeared to mishear Vega as she answered him, “I'm not. Thank you, Mr. President.”

“That's OK,” he said. “I know you're not thinking. You never do.”

“I'm sorry?” Vega responded.

“Go ahead,” Trump said.

Vega asked him to clarify his feelings about the limits of the FBI investigation into Kavanaugh. Trump stopped her, saying he would talk about the subject later but first wanted to answer questions about trade. Vega pivoted to ask him about the prospects for trade legislation before Congress.

Vega started her career in the Bay Area, working as a reporter at the Press Democrat in 2000 and the Chronicle in 2004, then moved on to television news at ABC's Bay Area affiliate, KGO-TV. She joined the network in 2011 as a correspondent in Los Angeles, and led the network's coverage of Hillary Clinton's campaign in the 2016 presidential race.

In January 2017, she was named White House correspondent for ABC News.

Later in the press conference, CNN's Kaitlan Collins drew sharp words from Trump. Collins had asked two questions about the Kavanaugh investigation, and Trump wasn't having it.

“Don't do that. That's not nice,” he said, adding that he wanted to answer a question about trade and moving on to another reporter.