CNN’s Jim Acosta Rips Trump In Defiant On-Air Announcement He’s Leaving: ‘No Time To Bow Down To A Tyrant’

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CNN anchor Jim Acosta ripped President Donald Trump in a defiant on-air farewell announcing his departure from CNN, telling viewers “This is no time to bow down to a tyrant!”

CNN CEO Mark Thompson and his network announced sweeping changes this week — including the likely exile of anchor Jim Acosta in a move seen by some as a capitulation to President Donald Trump — in what Thompson described as a “shift” toward “platforms and products where the audience themselves are shifting.”

The move has been in the works for weeks, and Mediaite has learned from a source with knowledge of Acosta’s thinking that after some “soul searching” Acosta decided to leave the network rather than accept an offer to host a late-night show from Los Angeles.

According to the source, Acosta “didn’t like the message that would send to the journalists” at CNN — and did not want to be “part of anything that kowtows to Trump.”

On Tuesday’s edition of CNN Newsroom With Jim Acosta, the anchor made it official, announcing to viewers at the end of the show that he is leaving CNN — and in addition to calling out Trump, urged viewers to post a modernized Howard Beale-esque message to their social media — “I will not give in to the fear!”:

I just wanted to end today’s show by thanking all of the wonderful people who work behind the scenes at this network.

You may have seen some reports about me and the show, and after giving all of this some careful consideration and weighing in alternative timeslots CNN offered me, I’ve decided to move on. I am grateful to CNN for the nearly 18 years I’ve spent here doing the news.

People often ask me if the highlight of my career at CNN was at the White House covering Donald Trump.

Actually, no. That moment came here when I covered former President Barack Obama’s trip to Cuba in 2016 and had the chance to question the dictator there, Raul Castro, about the island’s political prisoners.

As the son of a Cuban refugee, I took home this lesson: It is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant.

I have always believed it’s the job of the press to hold power to account. I’ve always tried to do that here at CNN, and I plan on doing all of that in the future.

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.

Even if you have to get out your phone, 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.

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. It has been an honor to be welcomed into your home for all these years.

That’s the news. Reporting from Washington. I’m Jim Acosta.

CNN thanked Acosta in a statement from a spokesperson:

“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. We want to thank him for the dedication and commitment he’s brought to his reporting and wish him the very best in the future.”

Watch above via CNN Newsroom With Jim Acosta.

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