Jan. 28 (UPI) — CNN anchor Jim Acosta announced Tuesday he is leaving the network, following a recent programming change, and appeared to take a parting shot at President Donald Trump with a message to viewers that, “It is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant.”
Acosta closed his show Tuesday with the news of his departure before signing off.
“You may have seen some reports about me and this show and after giving all of this some careful consideration and weighing an alternative time-slot CNN offered me, I’ve decided to move on,” Acosta said, adding that he was “grateful to CNN for the nearly 18 years doing the news.”
Today’s show was my last at CNN. My closing message: It’s never a good time to bow down to a tyrant… don’t give in to the lies. Don’t give in to fear. Hold on to the truth… and hope. pic.twitter.com/sGhSWSyPMz— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 28, 2025
During his remarks, Acosta stressed covering the White House under Donald Trump was not a highlight of his career and referenced his questioning of “Cuba dictator Raul Castro about the island’s prisoners,” during the Obama administration, by saying, “It is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant.”
“Don’t give in to the lies. Don’t give in to the fear. Hold on to the truth and to hope,” Acosta added in an apparent reference to Trump.
Acosta ended his final show from Washington, D.C., by thanking “all of the wonderful people who work behind the scenes at this network.”
President Trump responded Tuesday to Acosta’s departure from CNN in a post on Truth Social.
“Wow, really good news! Jim Acosta, one of the worst and most dishonest reporters in journalistic history, a major sleazebag, has been relegated by CNN fake news to the midnight hour,” Trump wrote in reference to the network’s removing Acosta from his 10 a.m. ET program slot, in what is considered by the media industry to be a significant demotion.
Acosta covered Trump’s first term at the White House and lost his press pass in 2018 after a heated exchange with the president over his referring to a caravan of Central American migrants as an “invasion.”
CNN sued the White House on First Amendment grounds and filed an emergency motion for immediate reinstatement, which was granted by a federal judge.
Acosta’s departure also follows sweeping changes at CNN following a ratings slide and what the network’s chief executive officer Mark Thompson called a “shift” toward “platforms and products where the audience themselves are shifting.”
CNN cut about 6% of its workforce, approximately 200 jobs, and made programming changes earlier this month.
The changes “are part of an ongoing response by this great news organization to profound and irreversible shifts in the way audiences in America and around the world consume news,” Thompson said.
Within hours of signing off at CNN, Acosta posted about his future plans on Substack Live.
“I’m going independent, at least for now,” Acosta said. “This is just the beginning but I wanted to invite you to join me here on this platform as we talk about the day’s news.”