Jim Acosta confirms he’s leaving CNN with bitter on-air anti-Trump diatribe

 

Jim Acosta issued a bitter final diatribe as he confirmed that he is quitting CNN after being booted out of his prime slot.

Concluding his CNN Newsroom show just before 11am ET Tuesday, Costa, 53, looked directly into the camera and said: ‘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,’ he continued, eventually calling Donald Trump ‘a tyrant’.

‘Even if you have to get out your phone,’ he went on. ‘Record that message. “I will not give in to the lies. I will not give in to the fear.” Post it on your social media, so people can hear from you, too.’

Acosta went on to state how he’d share news of his planned career moves in the coming days, following weeks of speculative headlines.

The veteran newsman – who spent 18 years at CNN – was humiliated earlier this month when reports emerged indicating he was going to be axed from his 10am timeslot.

A new Situation Room series headed by Wolf Blitzer will take over the slot instead, CNN CEO Mark Thompson confirmed last week, while unleashing some 200 firings.

Acosta, who lives in Washington DC, was offered a graveyard midnight to 2am slot by him instead – an offer he flatly rejected.

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Jim Acosta confirmed he is leaving CNN Tuesday – with an on-air speech where he told viewers ‘not to give into the lies’

 

It was sold to him as a move to West Coast primetime that included a move to LA, insiders told Status news – leaving Acosta to address the subsequent speculation.

‘I just wanted to end today’s show by thanking all of the wonderful people who work behind the scenes at this network,’ he told viewers, following an hour that saw him slam Trump’s recent deportations as ‘a dog and pony show.’

‘You may have seen some reports about me and the show,’ he continued, referring to accounts initially obtained by Status founder – and former CNN staffer – Oliver Darcy.

‘And after giving all of this some careful consideration and weighing an alternative time slot, CNN offered me, I’ve decided to move on.

‘I just wanted to end today’s show by thanking all of the wonderful people who work behind the scenes at this network,’ he continued, adding how he came to the decision after ‘some careful consideration and weighing an alternative time slot CNN offered.’

But, Acosta concluded, ‘I’ve decided to move on.’

The speech went on from there, with Acosta eventually honing in on his old nemesis, the commander-in-chief.

‘People often ask me if the highlight of my career at CNN was at the White House covering Donald Trump,’ he said, reminding onlookers of their repeated clashed during the president’s first term, one of which saw his press credentials pulled.

Acosta, seen here in the foreground, often found himself at odds with Donald Trump during the latter’s first term

Aside from a digital-first model, Thompson is demanding stars like Acosta tone-down their Trump reporting for his second term – something the latter on Tuesday ignored

President Trump gets into a heated exchange with CNN’s Jim Acosta

‘Actually, no,’ he sniped, saying instead his crowning achievement came during coverage of then-president Barack Obama’s trip to Cuba in 2016, since he himself is the son of a Cuban refugee.

‘[I] had the chance to question the dictator there, Raul Castro, about the island’s political prisoners,’ he recalled of the trip, before using it as political ammunition. ‘I took home this lesson.

‘It is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant,’ he asserted. ‘I’ve always believed it’s the job of the press to hold power to account.

‘I’ve always tried to do that here at CNN,’ he went on. ‘And I plan on going doing all of that in the future.’

That’s when he urged Americans to ‘not give in to the lies’ he appeared to suggest were being perpetuated by the current administration.

‘I’ll have more to say about my plans in the coming days. But until then, I want to thank all of you for tuning in.’

For a conclusion, Acosta offered a spin on his usual sign-off.

‘It has been an honor to be welcomed into your home for all these years,’ he told viewers as the hour waned. ‘That’s the news. Reporting from Washington. I’m Jim Acosta.’

A White House intern reaches for and attempts to take away the microphone held by then Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta in November 2018 – an encounter that saw his credentials briefly pulled

Earlier in the day, Acosta was joined by guests like Illinois Democrat Mike Quigley and fellow Congresswoman Rosa Delauro of Connecticut.

Both had strong words about the president’s first week in office, to which Acosta would occasionally interject and offer his opinion.

‘We were looking at a graphic earlier that showed head start breakfast and lunch programs for needy children,’ he told Delauro at a point, during talks about federal programs set to be pulled by the administration.

‘Say it ain’t so,’ Acosta opined – to which Delauro, also a Democrat, said, ‘Well, it is so.’

During discussions about immigration with Quigley, Acosta, mentioning viral footage of Dr Phil on an ICE ride-along, told his guest. ‘This looks like this is turning into a dog and pony show’ – to which he agreed.

Acosta then publicly pondered whether ‘we are in the middle of [a] retribution campaign.

‘Yeah, so much for an independent law enforcement,’ Quigley replied, after the Trump Administration faced accusations of going after particular people within the Justice Department, firing prosecutors who worked on the Jack Smith January 6 case in particular.

CNN’s Jim Acosta clashes with Tim Burchett over Trump’s J6 pardons

Quigley went on to claim: ‘The first Trump administration wanted to go after their enemies. They wanted to overturn a lawful election.’

‘And if it wasn’t for some brave people in the justice department back then, they might have been able to do just that. So we’re seeing it at the beginning of this administration.’

‘He’s out there joking at events that he’s going to run for a third term. What do you think of that?’ Acosta at this point asked, referring to Trump.

‘Yeah, absolutely nothing surprises me,’ Quigley replied, before categorizing the conservative as ‘an autocrat’.

‘My concerns are that the Supreme Court, uh, in an extraordinary moment in history, will agree with him on one of these egregious ideas,’ he went on, as Acosta devoted most of the show to Trump’s executive actions.

‘And our constitution will be very vulnerable from then on.’

The rest of the hour carried a similar tone, with CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez and CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig also joining in to bash the president.

At another point, Acosta read out a quote attributed to a ‘career’ DOJ employee obtained this week by Politico, where the official also appeared to air accusations that Trump’s actions were retaliatory toward Democrats.

‘This it feels like a nonviolent war. It’s just wild. Everybody is a sitting duck, and these people have no power or control over the situation,’ the person said.

Welcome to MAGALAND: Insider Trump’s Second 100 Days – The podcast bringing you the latest news and gossip from the White House. Listen here.

Earlier in the day, Acosta was joined by guests like Illinois Democrat Mike Quigley (not pictured) and fellow Congresswoman Rosa Delauro (right). Both had strong words to say about the president’s first week in office, to which Acosta would occasionally offer his opinion

The rest of the hour saw Acosta report mostly on the slew of Trump’s recent executive actions, with a disapproving tone

 CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez and CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig both joined in on the bashing as well, framing the president’s recent moves as retaliatory as Acosta pondered whether fired officials were part of ‘a purge’

‘People are just in a state of shock and devastated. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Nothing that happened during the first Trump administration came anywhere close to this.’

At this point, Acosta turned to Honie to say, ‘this sounds like a purge.’

‘It sounds like the purge is on,’ he said, to which the former prosecutor for the Justice Department stated, ‘This is certainly unprecedented.’

The displays served as a continuation of at-times opinionated reporting from Acosta seen last week, after insiders told Status that Thompson was demanding stars tone-down their Trump reporting for his second term.

This appeared to fall on deaf ears in regard to Acosta, who last Wednesday appeared ready to resume his years-long tiff with Trump during an interview with Republican lawmaker Tim Burchett.

As reports about his status at the 10am slot circulated, Acosta chided Burchett for what he viewed as his refusing to ‘take a stand’ against Trump’s blanket pardons surrounding January 6.

‘It’s good to be on here for my weekly beating from you all at CNN ,’ he began, before slamming the station’s plummeting ratings while being repeatedly interrupted by his host.

‘We are asking you to come on and tell the truth,’ Acosta said at point, before being subject to the proverbial bomb from the Republican.

February 2019: Another argument, this one on the White House lawn at an immigration event, between Trump and Acosta

‘And that’s why more people are watching the Cartoon Network SpongeBob reruns right now, Jim,’ he said, briefly leaving Acosta at a loss.

Thompson was the one tasked with addressing these ratings, and was brought on to do so in 2023 after rectifying similar situations at both the New York Times and BBC.

In a statement issued the following morning – before what was only the station’s laters round of layoffs – Thompson warned CNN’s future is still unclear.

‘In the end, this is about CNN being – as it has been in its history – an indispensable way in which many, many millions of people get their news,’ he told the paper, as he plans to roll out more vertical videos made popular by influencers on platforms like TikTok.

‘This is a moment where the digital story feels like an existential question,’ he told the paper he led for almost eight years, as cable news continues to decline.

 ‘If we do not follow the audiences to the new platforms with real conviction and scale, our future prospects will not be good.’

The statement also saw Thompson drop the bombshell that he was replacing Acosta’s 10 am hour with ‘The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown,’ confirming earlier reports in the process.

Acosta’s 10 am hour will be absorbed by a two-hour program dubbed ‘The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown’

At the time, the station slammed them as ‘speculation.’ Thompson put that to bed when he said execs were in talks with Acosta about a new role.

Those talks failed, with those fired last week set to be replaced by people with a more digital skillset, Thompson said.

Thompson also revealed plans to roll out a streaming service that will feature all of its most well-known stars – which, as Tuesday’s episode of Newsroom indicated, will not feature Acosta.

He joined CNN in 2007 following a stint at CBS News. He went on to gain prominence for his outspokenness against the president.

The decision to pull him from his long-held hour was made in the wake of the election, when reports of the layoffs emerged from Darcy.

The motive for the move remains unclear,  with Thompson painting the business decisions seen over the past week as part of ‘an ongoing “reshaping”‘ process ‘in response to changing consumer habits’.