CNN chief domestic correspondent Jim Acosta is expected to leave the cable news network after his show was replaced and he was yanked from all scheduled programming, according to a report.
Last week, the anchor’s 10 a.m. slot on the network was replaced with “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown” due to the network’s schedule rearrangement.
At the time, there was no official word on where Acosta would fit in, but the network apparently asked him to take on the graveyard shift with a midnight program just days before President Trump’s inauguration.
The change in scheduling seemed to be a deal breaker and Acosta is now expected to leave CNN altogether, the Status newsletter and Fox News reported.
The anchor reportedly “struggled with the choice,” an insider at the cable news network told Fox, which may have influenced him to cut his contract short.
Another person at CNN told Fox that they were disappointed with Acosta’s apparent resignation from CNN and figured he had the talent to make very late-night news appealing.
“Many viewers like Jim… if there is anyone who could make the overnight go it’s him. It’s sad to see him go,” the insider told Fox News Digital.
Acosta has become notorious for being one of CNN’s chief journos to dig in on Trump and even picked fights with the president during his first term. His pushback against the Trump administration nearly got him banned from White House press briefings, with staffers trying to revoke his press pass.
The broadcast journalist toed the line during his time as CNN’s chief White House correspondent during Trump’s first term. He struck up a testy relationship with just about everyone he came in contact with in the administration, ranging from aides to Trump himself.
Most famously, Acosta refused to back down during a 2018 press conference where he and Trump had a heated back-and-forth. The White House tried to take Acosta’s press pass following the exchange, but CNN successfully argued that doing so would violate the First and Fifth Amendments.
Following the 2020 election, Acosta left Washington D.C. behind and took over as chief domestic correspondent, a position he currently holds.
Acosta’s expected departure from the network comes as current CNN leadership tries to take a more neutral approach to politics for Trump’s second term.
