Alex Marquardt, CNN’s chief national security correspondent, said on Monday he is leaving the cable channel after eight years.
“Tough to say goodbye but it’s been an honor to work among the very best in the business,” he posted on X. “Profound thank you to my comrades on the National Security team & the phenomenal teammates I’ve worked with in the U.S. and abroad.”
Marquardt has most notably reported on the Russia-Ukraine war in the past few years. He was also at the center of a defamation lawsuit CNN settled with a U.S. Navy veteran earlier this year; a Florida jury found the network defamed the veteran when it implied he illegally profited from helping Afghans flee the country during a 2021 segment on “The Lead with Jake Tapper.”
The settlement was made hours after the jury found CNN owed Zachary Young $5 million in compensatory damages.
Young sued CNN in June 2022 for defamation after he said their segment on him “destroyed his reputation” and his security consulting business, Nemex Enterprises, Inc. The segment, reported on by Marquardt, said Young operated on the “black market” and “exploited” desperate Afghans fleeing the country following the U.S. Military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
During the trial, a message from Marquardt to a CNN colleague was shared in which he said “we gonna nail this Zachary Young mf—-r.” He later added, “Or not. Maybe he just slips away.”
A CNN representative did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment on whether Marquardt’s exit had anything to do with the defamation lawsuit.
Prior to CNN, Marquardt was an international reporter for ABC News. He did not share what his next move will be in his Monday X post.
