Jim Acosta Announces Departure From CNN With A Message: “It Is Never A Good Time To Bow Down To A Tyrant”
UPDATED, with additional comment: Jim Acosta told viewers this morning that he would be leaving CNN, departing after the network took his morning show off the schedule as part of an anchor shuffle.
“I’m grateful to CNN for the nearly 18 years I’ve spent here doing the news,” Acosta said. “People often ask me if the highlight of my career at CNN was at the White House, covering Donald Trump. Actually, no, that moment came here 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.”
More from Deadline
He added, “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 all in the future.”
“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 into the lies. I will not give in to the fear.’ Post it on your social media so people can hear from you too.”
Acosta said that he would have more to say about his plans in the coming days.
A CNN spokesperson said in a 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.”
Status newsletter first reported on Acosta’s plans Monday evening.
Acosta, who rose to prominence as CNN’s chief White House correspondent during Donald Trump’s first term, has hosted CNN’s 10 a.m. ET hour Newsroom for almost a year, and the show has delivered solid ratings compared to other network shows.
But earlier this month, the network offered him a much less visible time slot: midnight ET, where cable news networks have been running reruns of programming earlier in the day. The anchor told CEO Mark Thompson that the timing — just as the new Trump administration was getting up and running — appeared to be suspicious, according to a source.
Acosta launched a Substack earlier this month, with the message “coming soon.” He announced plans to launch that he was “going independent, at least for now,” with a venture on Substack.
CNN announced the anchor lineup changes last week, with Wolf Blitzer moving from evenings to mornings to anchor The Situation Room along with Pamela Brown at 10 a.m. ET. No date was given, but the changes are expected to be rolled out in the coming weeks.
Acosta clashed with Trump on the White House beat, and has continued to feature coverage critical of the administration, including when the president attacks the news media. The network has taken some criticism for the move of Acosta off the schedule, with figures like gun violence prevention advocate Fred Guttenberg calling it an “effort to submit to Trump.”
The network’s midnight ET offer would have put Acosta in primetime on the West Coast and in mornings Europe on CNN International, but the show would be well out of a prime news cycle.
To little surprise, Trump reacted to the news on Truth Social. He wrote that it was “really good news,” among other things. Trump wrote, “Word is that he wants to QUIT, and that would be even better. Jim is a major loser who will fail no matter where he ends up. Good luck Jim!”
Best of Deadline
Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.