Jim Acosta

Jim Acosta is a seasoned journalist best known for his role as a former CNN anchor and the network's chief White House correspondent during the Trump administration. Acosta has significantly contributed to the field of journalism with his coverage of prominent events, including the Obama administration, Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign, and President Obama's historic trip to Cuba in 2016. Acosta continued his journey in journalism as CNN's chief domestic correspondent and weekend anchor until 2025. His weekday morning newscast was later replaced by a new Situation Room series hosted by Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown in March 2025.

Acosta has received several awards, including The National Association of Hispanic Journalists 2017 Presidential Award and the SJSU Journalism School 2018 William Randolph Hearst Foundation Award, and was a part of the CNN team that won an Emmy for their 2012 presidential campaign coverage. In 2019, he was honored with the annual “Truth to Power” award from the New York Press Club, which is given to individuals “whose body of work challenges the power establishment and/or defends journalists.” In addition to his reporting, Acosta’s debut book, “The Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America,” which focuses on his experience covering President Trump during his first two years in office, was released in June 2019 and became a New York Times bestseller.

Before joining CNN in March 2007, Acosta was a CBS News correspondent since February 2003. Originally based in New York, he relocated to the CBS bureau in Atlanta. He contributed primarily to the CBS Evening News and has covered stories including the Iraq war from Baghdad and the 2004 presidential campaign of then-Sen. John Kerry, Hurricane Katrina, and the blackout of 2003 that impacted major cities in the Northeast U.S. Previously, he was a correspondent for CBS Newspath, the network’s 24-hour news service, from 2001-2003 and was based in Dallas and Chicago during that time. Acosta covered the Pennsylvania miner rescue, the Washington, D.C.-area sniper story, and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, among other stories.

Prior to CBS Newspath, he was a reporter and substitute anchor for WBBM-TV, the CBS-owned station in Chicago, from 2000 to 2001; a reporter for KTVT-TV, the CBS-owned station in Dallas, from 1998 to 2000; and a reporter and substitute anchor for WBIR-TV in Knoxville, Tenn., from 1995 to 1998. He began his journalism career with WMAL-AM radio in Washington before making the transition to television.

Acosta graduated cum laude from James Madison University with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications and a minor in political science.