CNN White House correspondent John Harwood announced on Twitter Friday that he is leaving the network. The veteran print and TV news journalist joined CNN in January 2020 after 14 years at CNBC, most recently serving as the financial news network’s chief Washington correspondent.
A CNN spokesperson confirmed the news, adding, “We appreciate John’s work covering the White House, and we wish him all the best.”
Personal news:
AdvertisementToday’s my last day at CNN
Proud of the work
Thanks to my colleagues
I’ve been lucky to serve the best in American media—St. Petersburg Times, WSJ, NYT, the NBC family, CNN
Look forward to figuring out what’s next.
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) September 2, 2022
Harwood becomes the third high-profile on-air personality to exit CNN in recent weeks, along with chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin and Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter.
Like Stelter, Harwood has been publicly critical of Donald Trump and the wider conservative ecosystem in recent years. In fact, the Trump-Harwood drama goes back to 2015, when the then-presidential candidate slammed Harwood’s performance as co-moderator of CNBC’s 2016 Republican presidential debate.
At a 2015 press conference for his book Crippled America, carried by all the news networks, Trump was asked about the debates, “debating is a good thing…it’s healthy,” then adding, “but you don’t want people like Harwood that read a question, bah, bah, bah, that he carefully wrote–his career, in my opinion his career is probably ruined or certainly threatened.”
About 10 minutes later, Trump added, “I think Becky Quick is a terrific person. I think Carl [Quintanilla] is terrific but I will tell you, John Harwood was a disgrace to CNBC.”
Interesting fact about Harwood: The son of legendary Washington Post reporter Richard Harwood, he appeared in a 1968 TV spot for Robert F. Kennedy, whom his late father covered for WaPo.
Volunteered by his mother, Harwood and several other youngsters chatted with the candidate about education. It was filmed at D.C.’s St. Albans School.
“I remember being cooped up under these hot lights thinking it was a special thing,” Harwood told TVNewser in 2009. “In the ethical culture of today’s journalism, the idea that one of my kids would be in an ad for a candidate is preposterous.”