By Ed Malik, A | ed@ddnewsonline.com | posted January 28th, 2025
Many observers saw this announcement coming for days: CNN’s Jim Acosta is gonna leave the network. The notable anti-Trump reporter and host was sent to programs Siberia, midnight segment, considered a graveyard shift. Acosta was supposed to helm an anchor’s desk between midnight and two in the morning but he’s not having none of it.
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Acosta gained notoriety for his sparring matches with President Donald Trump and members of his administration during Trump’s first term in office It’s not like he won these exchanges but trafficked in that inglorious route, nonetheless. Trump usually took him to the cleaners.
After Trump won the US presidential election, defeating mainstream media darling, Kamala Harris in the November 2024, CNN immediately thought to do a programming reshuffle to remain relevant and possibly moderate the network’s traditional anti-Trump disposition.
The Status newsletter reports that Acosta told associates privately over the weekend that he intends to leave after CNN’s Chief executive officer Mark Thompson, removed him from the morning programming lineup and his 10 a.m. program, which has enjoyed high ratings.
Media reports said Thompson had discussed moving Acosta’s one-hour program to a two-hour slot from midnight-2 a.m. ET. While the show would have aired during prime time on the West Coast, the late-night slot would also have removed Acosta from more traditional news viewing hours elsewhere.
Acosta’s 10 a.m. slot is reportedly being filled by “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown,” which currently airs at 6 p.m. ET. The Blitzer-Brown program would also expand to a two-hour slot during the daytime hours.
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CNN and Acosta have not responded to the new reports that he is leaving the network rather than accepting the show time shift.
A CNN insider told Fox News Digital that Acosta, who has been employed at the network for 18 years, has grimacing moments as he “struggled with his choice,” which could mean cutting his contract short.
Another insider said that viewers like Acosta and that “if there is anyone who could make the overnight go, it’s him. It’s sad to see him go.”
As CNN’s chief White House correspondent during Trump’s first term, Acosta often entered into sparring matches with the administration and Trump himself.
After Acosta refused to give up the microphone during a back-and-forth argument with Trump in 2018, the White House tried to revoke his press pass. His credentials were restored, though, when CNN argued that the order violated the First and Fifth Amendment rights of its network and star correspondent.
At other points, Trump derided Acosta by labeling CNN as “fake news” and once telling him during a press conference that “you are a rude, terrible, nasty person.”
CNN announced last week plans to lay off about 6% of its workforce, marking a shakeup at the beginning of a new Trump administration and amidst reports that the network is making a shift away from the liberal turn it’s taken in recent years.
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The news about Acosta’s reported departure met with some cheers on social media.
“Notorious liberal scold and anti-Trump legacy news personality Jim Acosta is out at CNN. The media landscape is unrecognizable from the beginning of Trump’s first term in 2017, and that’s a very good thing for America,” Charlie Kirk, a co-founder of Turning Point USA, posted on X.
NOTE: This report references AP, Newsmax.