Jim Acosta of CNN to Leave Network

Acosta decided to depart the network after declining an offer from chief executive Mark Thompson to move his 10 a.m. show to midnight Eastern time, an offer that did not appeal to him, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly.

“I am grateful to CNN for the nearly 18 years I’ve spent here doing the news,” he said. “… I want to thank all of you for tuning in. It has been an honor to be welcomed into your home for all these years.” 

That 10 a.m. time slot is now going to anchors Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown, who the network said last week will host a two-hour show. Blitzer is moving from a 6 p.m. time slot.

Cable television viewership declines substantially after the prime-time hours of 8 to 11 p.m. Eastern, and it probably would have been very difficult for Acosta to book guests willing to appear after midnight.While CNN’s viewership is down significantly since the November election, Acosta’s morning show performed relatively well.

“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,” a network spokesperson said in a statement.

 “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.”

President Donald Trump, who had a combative relationship with Acosta during his first term, celebrated the news of his departure in a post on Truth Social. “Jim is a major loser who will fail no matter where he ends up. Good luck Jim!” he wrote.

“I see the president was paying attention instead of running the country,” Acosta quipped to The Washington Post.

Acosta’s White House press credentials were suspended in 2018, hours after Trump lashed out at him at a news conference for questioning the president’s characterization of a Central American migrant caravan and trying to ask about the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Then-press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the suspension was due to him “placing his hands” on a White House press aide who tried to take Acosta’s microphone during his exchange with Trump.

 Sanders shared a doctored video of the incident on social media, while Acosta and other journalists denied Sanders’s accusation based on unedited footage and eyewitness accounts.

CNN sued the White House on Acosta’s behalf, leading a federal judge to order the White House to temporarily restore his press credentials.

 Within days, the suit was dropped after the administration fully restored the reporter’s press pass.

In Acosta’s farewell message, he said the highlight of his CNN tenure wasn’t covering Trump in the White House. It was questioning Cuba’s dictator, Raúl Castro, in 2016 about the island’s political prisoners.

“As a son of a Cuban refugee, I took home this lesson,” he said. “It is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant.”

Acosta added that he would announce what’s next for him in the coming days.

“I’ve always believed it’s the job of the press to hold power to account,” he said. “I’ve always tried to do that here at CNN, and I plan on … doing all of that in the future.”

In closing his message, Acosta told viewers: “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.”