Jim Acosta Confirms CNN Exit Amid Trump's Second Term, Tells Viewers 'It Is Never A Good Time To Bow Down To A Tyrant'
Jim Acosta is leaving his longtime home of CNN.
The anchor's decision to depart the cable news network comes five days after it was reported that The Situation Room, Wolf Blitzer's long-running evening program, would move from its current 6 pm ET time slot to 10 am in March, replacing Acosta's CNN Newsroom.
A CNN spokesperson previously told TVLine that the network was in "active discussions" with Acosta about a new place on its lineup — which, according to Status News, would have been a two-hour block from midnight until 2 am ET. Acosta ultimately declined that offer, and addressed his decision on Tuesday's show.
"I wanted to end today's show by thanking all of the wonderful people who work behind the scenes at this network. You may have seen some reports about me and the show, and after giving all of this careful consideration and weighing an alternative time slot CNN offered me, I've decided to move on," he confirmed. "I am grateful to CNN for the nearly 18 years I've spent here doing the news.
"People often ask me if the highlight of my career at CNN was at the White House, covering Donald Trump. Actually, no," he said. "That moment came when I covered President Barack Obama's trip to Cuba in 2016 and had the chance to question the dictator there, Raul Castro, about the island's political prisoners. As the son of a Cuban refugee, I took home this lesson: It is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant. I have always believed it's the job of the press to hold power to account. I've always tried to do that here at CNN, and I plan on doing that in the future."
He then left his audience with one final message: "Don't give in to the lies. Don't give in to the fear. Hold on to the truth and to hope, even if you have to get out your phone, record that message. I will not give in to the lies. I will not give in to the fear. Post it on your social media so people can hear from you, too."
Before he signed off, Acosta said he would reveal more about his plans for the future in the coming days. Shortly thereafter, he launched a Substack.
CNN, meanwhile, issued the following statement:
Jim has had a long, distinguished nearly 20-year career at CNN, with a track record of standing up to authority, for the first amendment and for our journalistic freedoms. We want to thank him for the dedication and commitment he's brought to his reporting and wish him the very best in the future.
Acosta's exit comes at the start of President Donald Trump's second term. In 2018, CNN filed a lawsuit against Trump, accusing POTUS of violating the First and Fifth Amendments after he revoked Acosta's White House press credential. Within 72 hours, Acosta's access was reinstated by a federal judge.
Acosta first joined CNN in March 2007 and covered the 2008 presidential campaigns of then-Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. John McCain and then-Sen. Barack Obama. He was also a frequent co-anchor on the network's weekend political program, Ballot Bowl. He served as a national political correspondent embedded within Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign, and was later named chief White House correspondent during the Obama administration — a role he maintained through Trump's first term.
His television career began in 1995 as a reporter and substitute anchor for WBIR-TV in Knoxville, Tenn. Over the next six years, he worked at local CBS affiliates in Dallas and Chicago. In 2001, he was hired as a correspondent for CBS Newspath, the network's 24-hour news service. Two years later, he was named a CBS News correspondent, at which point he contributed primarily to CBS Evening News and covered the Iraq war from Baghdad, as well the 2004 presidential campaign of then-Sen. John Kerry.