CNN has promoted Phil Mattingly to head its White House team as Chief White House Correspondent, effective immediately.
The newsroom vet steps up from his previous role of senior White House correspondent, where he covered the Biden administration.
His promotion is one of several White House team shakeups, as CNN also promoted MJ Lee to fill Mattingly’s senior correspondent post. Priscilla Alvarez is also joining the White House team as a reporter; she will continue covering immigration politics and policy, as well.
Arlette Saenz, Jasmine Wright, Jeremy Diamond, Kate Bennett and Kevin Liptak will continue to cover the White House.
As part of the White House team since January 2021, Mattingly reported on the policy and personnel driving the Biden administration’s first two years in office. He was known in his tenure there for breaking news on Biden and his administration, including news of sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and other targeted efforts on Russian supply chains through the nation’s war with Ukraine. He previously served as a congressional correspondent, notably covering the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. He’s been with CNN since 2015.
Lee began covering the White House for CNN in 2021 and over the last two years has broken news relating to the nationwide baby formula shortage, the White House’s student loan debt forgiveness plan and public health emergencies like monkeypox and COVID. She has been with CNN since 2015 and as part of the network’s New York bureau covered the 2020 presidential election as a political correspondent.
Alvarez joined CNN in 2019 as a reporter covering immigration; she was nominated for an Emmy Award for the CNN team’s coverage of Haitian migrants converging at the border.
