Q&A: CNN’s Paula Reid on covering Trump, ‘ruthless’ time management and her Swiftie status

No one is safe from CNN senior legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid’s “ruthless” time management, not even Taylor Swift.   

Reid, who jumped from CBS News to CNN in 2021, recalls holding strongly coveted tickets to see Swift with her friends in Philadelphia as part of the “Karma” singer’s “Eras” concert tour. 

“I had been in Manhattan for about six of eight weeks covering various Trump stories. And I just didn’t feel that I could leave for the weekend — leave my husband and my daughter at home. So my friends resold the tickets,” Reid said. 

“That’s just an example of where I’m at right now: You have to be ruthless in terms of your priorities.” 

But while she’s breaking off plans to belt out Swift’s hits, Reid’s also breaking news. 

Last month, she and CNN colleague Sara Murray were first to report that former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani was interviewed by investigators with the Justice Department’s special counsel’s office as part of its probe into attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. 

She was also a part of a team of CNN reporters to break the news in May that the Justice Department had an audio recording of former President Trump discussing a classified Pentagon document he took from the White House. 

“It was a game-changer in terms of how we saw the story, because before we knew there was a tape, we weren’t sure if the former president would be charged,” said Reid, speaking from Fort Pierce, Fla., where she was getting ready to cover a pretrial conference in the case over Trump’s handling of classified documents. 

The journalist and her husband, management consultant Jason Reid, just celebrated their daughter Jordan’s first birthday. While motherhood and a demanding beat can be “challenging,” Jordan has already given her mom a job assist at least once. 

“I had one individual that I had reached out to who was quite upset with me. I was home. My daughter was nearby, and for whatever reason she just started giggling. And he stopped yelling for a second and he’s like, ‘Well, how am I supposed to be mad when there’s a baby giggling?’ So you know, sometimes Jordan can really help me out in that way.” 

And don’t count Reid, 40, out of attending a future Swift show.  

“I look forward to taking my daughter to the ‘Eras Two’ tour in 10 years or so,” she quipped. 

ITK wanted to know more about this Swift and country music-loving correspondent, who may one day add “author” to her résumé, so we asked her to answer these questions. 

Hometown: I was born in Akron, Ohio, and when I was around 2 years old, we moved to the North Shore of Massachusetts to be closer to my mom’s family. 

College attended: College of William and Mary and Villanova Law School 

What did you want to be as a kid: I wanted to be, at one point, a marine biologist. 

We lived close to the water [and I spent] a lot of time doing field trips to the wetlands. The marine life is a big part of life on the north shore of Massachusetts. 

I did at one point go to camp at the New England Aquarium, which was a big deal, because it was expensive and it was sort of a big sacrifice for me to go there, and it was like the highlight of my young life. But at some point, I clearly got off that track. 

Favorite hobby: I really enjoy going to various national parks. Our daughter is named after Jordan Pond in Acadia National Park. Now with a 1-year-old, our ambitions aren’t as lofty as they used to be in terms of going hiking. But we’ll go to Shenandoah, we’ll go to Great Falls. 

Favorite movie: “A League of Their Own” 

What you like most about D.C.: It’s a beautiful city just in terms of the architecture. I think it’s a really beautiful city, full of people who are really passionate about what they do, be it international affairs, government, journalism. I love that about D.C. 

What you like least about D.C.: I mean, everybody says it, right? It’s the weather. The weather is terrible. And the cost of living is brutal. And the worst part about that is it’s driven out a lot of our close friends. They’ve moved elsewhere, which, you know, that’s the downside. 

Something on your bucket list that you haven’t completed yet: Writing a book — nonfiction. 

My long-term goal is — right now I cover legal cases day-to-day, incremental, breaking news — but to take a few steps back at some of the major legal issues and legal cases and do more long-form with books, maybe podcasts, things like that. 

The ruthless time management does not allow for it. 

Biggest accomplishment: I didn’t realize I wanted to go into journalism until I was about 25. 

I was in my last year of law school, and I saw Jan Crawford — who’s the legal journalist at CBS, at the time she was at ABC — give a talk at a law school event about [Supreme Court] Justice Clarence Thomas. And it just crystallized for me that telling stories about the law could be a vocation and was something I wanted to pursue. And shortly after law school, I made the jump to journalism. 

In seven years, I went from being an intern at CBS News —I was doing all the intern things making photocopies, fetching pizza for Armen Keteyian, who’s lovely, and all the intern stuff — to sitting in the front row of the White House for CBS News. So I think following that dream and making it happen was probably my greatest accomplishment. 

Most embarrassing moment: So the day the news broke that [Supreme Court] Justice Antonin Scalia had died [in 2016], I got that news confirmed for CBS. That was also the night CBS was hosting a big presidential debate. 

I had only been on-camera reporting for a couple of months at that point, but as a sort of nod to the fact that I got this reporting on this pivotal day, they let me lead the evening news that night. The live shot was a disaster. It was mostly because of a technical issue that I had no control over, but a more seasoned correspondent probably would have handled it better. And I think it was embarrassing not only because it was such a big night for the network, but also I felt like I had let down people who were opening doors to opportunities that usually didn’t come that soon because I had all this great reporting. 

But after that scarring experience, I took every single holiday shift, weekend shift, overnight shift — whatever it took to get those reps to get my on-camera presence and experience to the same place as my national-level reporting. 

I’m happiest when: When I’m with my husband and my daughter. 

My husband’s a phenomenal cook and he’ll make us an amazing food. My daughter is such a little foodie. She will eat anything and love it. 

Just being with them, enjoying a home life that after a decade of traveling for work I haven’t really had the opportunity to enjoy that. 

Something few people know about you: I think it’s my obsession with ‘80s and ‘90s country music. I’m a regular at Dollywood. I didn’t go to the “Eras” tour, but I did make it to The Judds reunion tour this year. That tells you where my priorities are. It’s the only concert I’ve seen since my daughter was born. 

Best advice given: Major Garrett told me at a time that was very chaotic and complicated at work covering the Trump administration, he said: ‘Just always bring it back to the work and to the reporting. No matter what is going on at your organization, who’s in the White House and the outside world, if you always just focus on the work and the reporting, things will work out.’ 

The other one is from [former CBS News President] Susan Zinrinsky, who was very much the architect of the early part of my career and a wonderful mentor. She had this saying when it comes to sources: “No is hello.” I can’t tell you how many times I have called people, they said, “No, I don’t want to talk to you,” and over eight months ignore you and tell you to bug off. And then eventually they talk to you once, twice, three times, and then you develop a relationship. And so many of the sources that I have now and that I’m breaking huge scoops with, that’s the result of relationships that started years ago and playing the long game, and people who often didn’t want to talk to you. 

Your superhero name would be: At CBS I somehow got the nickname “Danger Reid.” And this was because I came to this occupation very inexperienced, and so no matter what the assignment was, I would always say yes. 

One time it was climbing up a fence on the outside of a landfill that was surrounding one of those compounding pharmacies in Massachusetts that had contaminated shots. I climbed over the fence to get a picture of the landfill — I signed up to do that. I would do anything just to get an opportunity. So I think that’s how I got that nickname.