Jim Acosta announces he’s leaving CNN: What to know

CNN anchor Jim Acosta announced on Tuesday that he would exit the network, urging viewers not to “give into the lies” on his way out. 

“You may have seen some reports about me and this show and after giving all of this some careful consideration, and weighing an alternative timeslot CNN offered me, I have decided to move on,” Acosta told viewers. 

“I am grateful to CNN for the nearly 18 years I spent here doing the news. People often ask me if the highlight of my career at CNN was at the White White House covering Donald Trump. Actually, no. That moment came here,” Acosta added, showing a photo of him covering President Obama’s trip to Cuba in 2016 and questioning dictator Raul Castro. 

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

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Acosta added a pointed message at the end of his monologue.

“I have always believed it’s the job of the press to hold power to account. I have always tried to do that here at CNN,” he continued. “I plan on doing all of that in the future. One final message – don’t give into the lies. Don’t give into the fear. Hold onto 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 into the fear. Post it on your social media, so people can hear from you, too.”

Acosta’s announcement came after days of speculation about his future after he was left off CNN’s updated programming schedule. Acosta’s 10 a.m. ET program was replaced with “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown” in the network’s latest reshuffling.

Acosta said he would announce more about his future plans in the coming days. 

“Until then, I want to thank all of you for tuning in. It has been an honor to be welcomed into your home for all of these years,” Acosta said. 

CNN confirmed to Fox News Digital that Tuesday was Acosta’s final show. 

Acosta was reportedly offered the midnight ET gig and decided to walk away instead of accepting what much of the media industry considered a significant demotion. One CNN insider told Fox News Digital that they heard Acosta “struggled with the choice,” while another insider suggested CNN leaders didn’t want him to stick around.  

The second CNN insider told Fox News Digital last week that CNN executives were “beyond apoplectic” that news of Acosta’s conversation with CNN CEO Mark Thompson about the possible move to midnight was leaked to the press. 

Acosta first joined CNN in 2007, where he covered political campaigns and eventually the Obama and Trump White Houses. He emerged as a hero of the anti-Trump resistance during President Donald Trump’s first term, often sparring with the president and his spokespersons.

The left-leaning correspondent also frequently injected editorializing into his reports, calling Trump xenophobic for his rhetoric about COVID-19, complaining that Kim Kardashian shouldn’t be at the White House to discuss criminal justice reform and suggesting White House reporters should make bumper stickers and chant “We are not the enemy of the people” outside the building in protest of the administration’s anti-press rhetoric.

Trump referred to Acosta’s commentary as “fake news,” as he became known for shouting questions at Trump’s White House press secretaries and going toe-to-toe with the president himself.

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Acosta famously refused to give up the microphone in a 2018 press conference, making brief physical contact with a female aide as he engaged in a contentious back-and-forth with Trump. The White House attempted to revoke Acosta’s press pass following the dust-up, but his credentials were restored when CNN argued that it violated the First and Fifth Amendment rights of Acosta and the network.

The encounter with the aide didn’t change his style, as Acosta continued his aggressive behavior toward members of the Trump administration in ways that are often perceived as grandstanding.

In 2019, Acosta was widely mocked for posting a video that was meant to downplay Trump’s claims of a border crisis when the video ended up supporting the argument that border barriers improve security.

Some media watchdogs were quick to point out Acosta’s video helped prove Trump’s point that a wall or barrier along the Southern border could help prevent illegal border crossings.

Acosta’s adversarial relationship with the first Trump administration appeared to be lucrative as he landed himself a book deal and appeared on liberal late-night shows.

In several excerpts of his anti-Trump memoir, “The Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America,” Acosta complained that “access is more important than solidarity” to some journalists, who are “rewarded with scoops” because they “stand with the White House.”

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Acosta dismissed the idea that he was behaving like a “political activist” since he said his mission was to “find the truth.” He did, however, tell his critics to “call me a showboater or a grandstander” because he was “performing a public service for the good of the country.”

As Trump left office, Acosta was moved from the White House to a domestic correspondent role, hosting weekend and then weekday shows until 2025.

Earlier this month, he gave a monologue about the importance of the news media to democracy after President Joe Biden warned the “free press is crumbling” in his farewell address. 

Acosta seemed to be suggesting that democracy would be under assault by a second Trump term and referred to the “enemy of the people” comment Trump has used against the press. 

“We are not the enemy of the people. We are the defenders of the people. Walter Cronkite once said, ‘freedom of the press is not just important to democracy. It is democracy,’” Acosta stated.

This is a developing story, more to come… 

Fox News Digital’s Gabriel Hays and David Rutz contributed to this report.