President Donald Trump treated an Oval Office policy question like batting practice ... taking a few swings at CNN's Kaitlan Collins instead of the issue she raised.

The fireworks started when POTUS was pressed about a proposed $1.8B anti-weaponization fund -- a massive compensation program for people who claimed they were victims of politically motivated government investigations -- that has since been scrapped following bipartisan criticism.

Watch the clip ... before Trump could get very far into the substance of the question, he turned his attention to Collins.

The exchange quickly devolved into a familiar back-and-forth between the president and the CNN anchor, with Trump taking shots at both Collins and her network while questioning her reporting and motives. At one point, he accused her of approaching coverage of him with "hatred in her eyes" and mocked her efforts to press him on the issue.

Collins repeatedly tried to steer the conversation back to the proposed fund, but Trump continued firing back ... in yet another headline-grabbing clash with one of his most frequent media adversaries.

The tense moment is just the latest chapter in the long-running feud between Trump and Collins, whose exchanges have regularly produced fireworks dating back to his first term in office.

As for the fund itself, the proposal is no longer moving forward after facing opposition and growing scrutiny. Still, by the time the exchange wrapped up, the policy was almost an afterthought ... with Trump and Collins once again stealing the show.