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Jim Acosta, CNNs chief domestic correspondent, is leaving the network after nearly 20 years, he confirmed on Tuesday. Acosta is at least partially known for a volatile exchange with president Donald Trump during a 2018 press conference, in which Trump wagged his finger at the reporter and told him that CNN should be ashamed to have him among their ranks.
Below, find out whats behind the decision to step away from his role at the iconic cable news network.
Born Abilio James Acosta, the journalist was raised in Virginia and educated at James Madison University. After received a bachelors degree in mass communication with a minor in political science, Jim began his career over the airwaves at WMAL in Washington before becoming an on-camera reporter at NBC affiliate WBIR-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee. He worked at various stations in Fort Worth, Chicago, and Dallas before coming a CBS News correspondent based in New York City, and later Atlanta.
He joined CNN in 2007, appearing on American Morning and Ballot Bowl before being promoted to national political correspondent in 2012. He became chief White House correspondent in 2018 and in 2021, he became chief domestic correspondent and weekend anchor.
Jim Acosta joined CNN in 2007. As mentioned above, in his early years with the network, he appeared as anchor of weekend political show Ballot Bowl and as a correspondent for American Morning. He also covered the 2008 presidential campaigns of both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton while establishing his name at the network.
As of 2025, nearly two decades after he joined CNN, he was chief domestic correspondent and weekend anchor.
According to the New York Post, the longtime broadcast journalist was expected to resign the network after his morning show was replaced by The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown, and he was allegedly pulled from all programming. The outlet also claimed that the network asked him to helm a midnight program just days before the second inauguration of Trump.
The prediction was accurate. 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, the longtime anchor confirmed on air on Tuesday, January 28, per Fox News.
I have always believed its the job of the press to hold power to account. I have always tried to do that here at CNN, Acosta continued. I plan on doing all of that in the future. One final message “ dont give into the lies. Dont 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. 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, he concluded the farewell message.
CNN released a statement of their own the same day. 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, the statement read, per the New York Post. We want to thank him for the dedication and commitment hes brought to his reporting and wish him the very best in the future.
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