Reporter caught reacting on live TV after learning Barry Trotz resigned during Senate hearing
Washington Examiner reporter Kelly Cohen was just as shocked as every other Washington Capitals fan on Monday when Barry Trotz surprisingly announced that he would not return to the Capitals as their head coach next season — just weeks after winning their first ever Stanley Cup.
The difference with Cohen, though, is that she was caught on camera.
Cohen was covering a Senate hearing on Monday, and could be clearly seen on camera in the background throughout the entire thing.
Suddenly, she got a notification on her phone about the Trotz news, and was completely floored.
Check it out:
And here it is, the moment @politiCOHEN_ finds out Barry Trotz resigned pic.twitter.com/Y38VwRdkrf
— Dave Brown (@dave_brown24) June 18, 2018
And to make matters worse, Cohen was “literally in the middle of writing a story” about the hearing when she got the news.
“I don’t know why my reaction was so dramatic,” Cohen told the Washington Post.
“Obviously you can’t really talk out loud, because the director of the FBI is probably speaking, and top senators are speaking. So that’s why I had to have that little silent meltdown, which obviously now is not that silent.”
The reporter had some fun with it on Twitter after, too.
just found out barry trotz has resigned and i just had to have a full on silent meltdown in the middle of this senate judiciary hearing
— kelly cohen (@politiCOHEN_) June 18, 2018
yep. here is said silent meltdown capture in camera (thanks for the screengrab @MDBaKaPaulK!) pic.twitter.com/IBAMmH1u4N
— kelly cohen (@politiCOHEN_) June 18, 2018
“Just found out Barry Trotz has resigned and I just had to have a full on silent meltdown in the middle of this Senate judiciary hearing,” Cohen tweeted.
“Apparently this was caught on camera during the IG hearing and I have no regrets.”
The 27-year-old covers the Justice Department and intelligence topics for the Washington Examiner, according to the Washington Post. She also helps cover local teams for NBC Sports Washington and SB Nation.
“It’s just wild to me that he’s leaving,” Cohen told the Washington Post. “If the hearing was a little more bombshell, I wouldn’t have cared so much in that moment, but because it was kind of slow-moving . . . and it was just such a curve for him to go, I really didn’t see that.”
“It’s really interesting that he wins the Stanley Cup, the first championship for a Washington team in how many years, and he’s gone? That’s crazy to me. You have to appease the person who led your team to that title.”
And while she has embraced her viral fandom pretty well, her mother wasn’t as quick to jump on board.
the stages of your mom finding out you sent viral pic.twitter.com/9hAWJeRMUN
— kelly cohen (@politiCOHEN_) June 19, 2018
all i have to say about today is … don’t ever let anyone tell you women aren’t passionate about sports https://t.co/8iYSwJ3R08
— kelly cohen (@politiCOHEN_) June 19, 2018
“All I have to say about today is… don’t ever let anyone tell you women aren’t passionate about sports,” Cohen tweeted while sharing an article about her.
If nothing else, Cohen more than proved that today. And, like the rest of Washington, it’s probably safe to say that she’ll will eagerly be watching the Capitals coaching search this offseason.