Kayla Tausche, CNN’s senior White House correspondent, is leaving the network barely two years after her widely publicized hire.
Tausche, who was poached from CNBC, did not explain her choice to quit in a goodbye message acquired by Status.
“I’m off to chase the next big story,” the 38-year-old journalist wrote to colleagues.
Tausche left CNBC after serving as senior White House correspondent and anchor, reporting on the Biden administration. She had also co-hosted CNBC’s 2020 election night coverage and inauguration, as well as the first Trump administration.
Earlier this year, the network announced new additions to the White House staff to cover the Trump administration.
CNN appointed Kaitlan Collins as the leading White House reporter.
Collins added that responsibility while continuing to lead her primetime show “The Source.” Collins’ expanded job has put him in the spotlight, and he is frequently in the president’s sights. As part of the administration’s transition, the network promoted a few journalists to the White House beat.
On Thursday, parent firm Warner Bros. Discovery said that it was considering breaking out its cable holdings to counter increasing losses from cord-cutting.
Kayla Tausche, a senior correspondent at CNN who recently shifted off the White House beat, is leaving the network after just two years. https://t.co/mzo8Q6sK5Y
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) May 8, 2025
The move comes as CNN’s ratings continue to suffer while Fox News is historically dominating the media landscape.
Fox News Channel has now accounted for the top 1,000 cable news telecasts since Election Day, as the network continues to dominate the scene.
Since Election Day in November, Fox News has had the top 1,013 cable news telecasts on television.
One of the highlights was its coverage of President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, which garnered 11.7 million people for the highest-rated hour of the year so yet.
MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” ranked 1,104th on the list, with 2.4 million viewers for a March 24 show. Maddow reverted to just broadcasting on Mondays this week, after running five nights a week for the first 100 days of the Trump presidency.
Fox’s total-day cable news share has increased to 65% since the election, including a 66% share in prime time. In instance, CNN garnered 14% of cable news viewers overall and 12% in primetime, while MSNBC received 20% and 22%, respectively.
Since Election Day, Fox News has averaged 1.8 million viewers and 224,000 in the 25-54 demo overall, as well as 2.7 million viewers and 335,000 in the 25-54 demo during primetime, according to a release.
Fox News, which concluded the highest-rated first 100 days in cable news history with a dominating April, averaged 1.6 million viewers and 180,000 in the 25-54 demographic from April 28 to May 4. Fox’s nighttime audience averaged 2.5 million people and 256,000 in the demo.
In weekday primetime, Fox (2.9 million viewers) outperformed even NBC (2.5 million viewers), while CNN had its worst week of the year in total day viewers (365,000 viewers) and primetime ages 25-54 (81,000 viewers).
CBS, which is presently facing a $20 billion lawsuit from Trump over a “60 Minutes” episode from last year, saw its nightly news program “CBS Evening News” have its lowest-rated week ever, with only 3.6 million viewers and 482,000 in the 25-54 demographic.
Fox’s “The Five” (3.7 million total, 366,000 in the demo) dominated cable news, with “Jesse Watters Primetime” attracting 3.3 million viewers and 364,000 in the demo, and “Special Report” drawing 2.8 million viewers and 311,000 in the demo. “The Ingraham Angle” drew 2.7 million viewers and 323,000 in the demo. “Hannity” (2.6 million, 280,000) and “Fox News @ Night” (1.5 million, 180,000) also outperformed their competitors.
Fox’s late-night show “Gutfeld!” received 2.8 million viewers and 298,000 in the demo, outperforming CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (1.8 million total, 272,000 in demo), ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (1.4 million total, 231,000 in demo), and NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” (1.1 million total, 267,000 in demo).
During the daytime, Fox News programs “The Will Cain Show” (2 million viewers), “Outnumbered” (nearly 2 million), “America’s Newsroom” (1.9 million), “The Faulkner Focus” (1.8 million), “The Story with Martha MacCallum” (1.8 million), and “America Reports” (1.75 million) all outperformed NBC’s “Today Third Hour” (1,633,000 viewers) and ABC’s “GMA3” (1,261,000 viewers).
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