Alex Margart, chief national security reporter in CNN, says he will leave the network after eight years.
He wrote on X, “Some personal news: I will leave CNN after 8 years. It is difficult to say goodbye, but it was a great honor to work among the best at work. Thank you deep for my comrades on the national security team and the dark teammates that I worked with in the United States and abroad.”
Marquardt did not specify his next professional step. A CNN spokesman refused to comment.
Marquardt witnessed earlier this year in a defaming trial against the network in a lawsuit filed by a security adviser, Zakari Young. It was presented in the 2021 Marquardt report on the high fees required on the black market to evacuate Afghans during the withdrawal of the United States. In one case, young image appeared on the screen with Chyron, “Afghans are trying to flee the Taliban in the black markets, high fees, and no guarantee of safety or success.” The judge left the matter to the jury to report whether the use of the term “black market” means an illegal or criminal activity.
The jury found that the network is responsible for defaming and granting it $ 5 million. Then the network reached a settlement where the trial was to enter the next stage.
“We are still proud of our journalist and we are 100 % committed to preparing strong, unspeakable and fair reports in CNN, although we will of course take the useful lessons that we can from this situation,” said a CNN spokesman at the time.
Marquardt covered a collection of national security and foreign policy stories, and was in Ukraine when Russia invaded in 2022. The rebellion was also covered on January 6 and Black Lives Matter protests. Before CNN, he was a foreign correspondent for ABC News, based in Moscow, Jerusalem, Beirut and London. During a previous period with CNN, he was a consolidated correspondent during the 2008 presidential elections.
Marquardt won multiple prizes, including EMMY and EDWARD R. Murrow Awards, to conduct a secret investigation into sex without legal age in the Philippines.
