CNN’s Jim Acosta ‘high’ as network considers moving anti-Trump anchor to midnight, sources say
One of the legacy breakout stars of #Resistance media President Donald TrumpHis first term in office may be disappearing in the dead of night as his second term is now officially underway.
Jim Acosta became a household name as CNN’s chief White House correspondent because of his hostile relationship with Trump and his press secretaries. After the 2020 election, Acosta’s status at CNN was elevated to anchor, first on weekends, but eventually shifted to weekday programming.
While past CNN leadership enjoyed Acosta’s constant sparring with the first Trump administration, the network’s current leadership appears to be trying to tone down the drama.
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CNN star Jim Acosta has been asked by his boss to move to midnight, something critics say will reduce his on-air presence during Trump’s second term in office. (Reuters/Carlos Barria)
Status first reported last week that CNN CEO Mark Thompson had proposed to Acosta that he be moved from his one-hour slot at 10 a.m. ET to a two-hour slot starting at midnight, a move that would “effectively banish Acosta to Siberia of television news,” as it has been characterized.
The report quickly sparked outrage among CNN’s liberal fans, with many saying the move meant the network was bending the knee to Trump.
Sources say Fox News Digital that the chatter is legitimate, and one insists that Acosta is “getting high” as a result.
“Acosta is a talented broadcaster who can handle any space on the network,” a CNN employee told Fox News Digital. “The midnight thing is shocking [but] it is what it is.”
While the chatter was described as “gossip” in CNN’s hallways, the staff was “confident” the prospect of moving Acosta to the midnight slot was real and suggested it was Acosta’s only path forward at the network.
“He could have the right place, but the choice is not to give it to him,” the employee added.
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Los Angeles Times similarly communicated If Acosta refuses to accept the midnight shift, “he could leave the network, according to people familiar with his thinking.”
The Times also reported that taking the midnight shift could move Acosta from CNN’s D.C. headquarters to the network’s Los Angeles bureau, though that move would not be a requirement because his family has roots in Washington. The 12-2am ET time slot would overlap with prime time on the West Coast, airing from 9am-11pm PT.
CNN’s Jim Acosta famously refused to hand over the microphone while peppering President Donald Trump with questions during a 2018 press conference. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)
Another CNN insider told Fox News Digital that executives are “beyond apoplectic” that news of Acosta’s one-on-one conversation with Thompson leaked, leaving the network reeling from online outrage.
A CNN spokesman declined to comment.
Acosta first joined CNN in 2007, but his rise to stardom didn’t come until 10 years later when his boss at the time, Jeff Zucker, assigned him to be the network’s resident reporter in the White House briefing room. He soon became notorious for shouting questions at Trump’s White House press secretaries and frequently clashed with the president himself, earning a reputation as a gloater and receiving a profile boost from Trump after he called it “fake news.”
Acosta famously refused to hand over the microphone at a 2018 press conference as he engaged in a spat with Trump. The white house tried to take away Acosta’s press pass after a dust-up, but his credentials were reinstated when CNN claimed he violated Acosta’s and the network’s First and Fifth Amendment rights.
CNN’s Jim Acosta became a late-night regular during the first Trump administration, a rarity for a White House correspondent in previous presidential terms. (Randy Holmes via Getty Images)
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Acosta’s adversarial relationship with the first Trump administration appears to have been lucrative as he landed a book deal and became a frequent guest on liberal late-night talk shows, further fueling the star power that earned him the top chair during the Biden presidency.
But with a different boss at the helm, it remains to be seen whether Acosta’s status as CNN’s #Resistance figure will continue into another Trump administration, or if he’ll have to go elsewhere to continue his war of words with the president.
