For the TV networks, a new president means a reshaped D.C. press corps.
And as the president-elect begins his transition from Trump Tower to the White House, several correspondents will likely be making moves to Washington, D.C. too. Network insiders tell us some of the changes could come as early as this week. In fact in 2008, ABC News made its correspondent changes the day after Pres. Obama was elected.
At ABC News, the two main correspondents covering Trump and Clinton, Tom Llamas and Cecilia Vega, will likely remain in New York as both are anchors of World News Tonight’s weekend editions. That leaves Jon Karl on the beat at the White House. David Kerley also occasionally covers the executive branch.
Chris Jansing, NBC’s senior White House correspondent will cover some of the final weeks of Pres. Obama’s term. Peter Alexander, Kristen Welker and Ron Allen also cover the White House for NBC. In line to join NBC’s White House team, Katy Tur, who covered the Trump campaign for the last 500 days as well as Hallie Jackson. But NBC may also have other plans for them.
At CBS News, senior White House correspondent Major Garrett has been covering the Trump campaign and Nancy Cordes has been covering Clinton. Garrett likely stays in his role for now. Cordes is CBS’s congressional correspondent and with a new Republican-controlled congress there will be plenty to cover there.
Fox News’s Carl Cameron covered Trump, and Jennifer Griffin covered Clinton. Both are already based in D.C. with Cameron covering politics and Griffin on the national security beat. Kevin Corke and Mike Emanuel are FNC’s other White House correspondents. Ed Henry is back in the fold at Fox News, but it’s not clear what FNC has planned for him, post-election.
CNN has the deepest Washington bench of all networks. Jim Acosta covered Trump, he’s also the network’s senior White House correspondent. Brianna Keilar, also a senior White House correspondent, was the lead reporter on the Clinton campaign. Jeff Zeleny is CNN’s senior D.C. correspondent. Michelle Kosinski and Athena Jones also cover the White House for CNN. Also keep an eye on Sara Murray, Sunlen Serfaty and MJ Lee.
All the networks also had a slew of producers and off-air reporters, also known as embeds, with the campaigns. Sopan Deb of CBS, Noah Gray of CNN, and John Santucci of ABC among them. Look for promotions and changes in those roles too.