Phil Mattingly to remain with CNN as domestic correspondent

Another one of CNN’s former morning show anchors has landed a new gig at the network.

Phil Mattingly, who until Feb. 23, 2024, was co-anchor of the network’s previous version of “CNN This Morning,” has reached a deal to stay with the network in the role of chief domestic correspondent and anchor.

In this new role, Mattingly will appear across CNN platforms and dayparts delivering enterprise reporting and continuing to anchor on a fill in basis across CNN. He will also participate in special coverage during the 2024 conventions and political special event programming, according to the network’s Feb. 28, 2024, announcement.

Mattingly’s first assignment will be covering Donald Trump’s campaign for president, joining CNN Correspondent Kristen Holmes and an experienced team of correspondents, reporters and producers currently covering the camp.

“Phil Mattingly is one of the strongest political journalists and anchors we have at CNN,” said Mark Thompson, chairman and chief executive officer of CNN Worldwide, in a statement. “As a 2016 campaign correspondent, Capitol Hill correspondent, Senior White House Correspondent and Chief White House Correspondent, Phil has risen to every challenge CNN has thrown at him. He’s the perfect choice to become CNN anchor, chief domestic correspondent and to play a central role in our coverage of one of the most momentous election cycles in American history.”

There was no word on a role for Mattingly’s former “This Morning” co-anchor Poppy Harlow. When CNN announced it would be overhauling its morning schedule, the network mentioned that Harlow and Mattingly were both in discussions for other roles at the network.

The two likely had separate discussions with CNN management about new opportunities and it’s possible Harlow’s deal is simply taking longer to hash out.

Harlow notably took time off from CNN to pursue a master’s studies in law at Harvard University. The program did not award her a legal degree nor is it the equivalent of attending law school, but it is designed to help students better understand key points of the U.S. legal system.

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That knowledge could be one way CNN could utilize Harlow, possibly in a correspondent or analyst role on legal matters, especially with how they related to current news events.

Mattingly and Harlow join a list of former CNN morning anchors who were ousted from their roles as the network struggled to find a format and talent grouping that worked, going back to former “New Day” anchors Michaela Pereira and Kate Bolduan who started on the show when it launched in 2013. Pereira was given a show on sister network HLN and Bolduan anchored “At This Hour,” a short-lived CNN+ show and currently appears on the morning edition of “CNN NewsCentral.”

Bolduan’s replacement, Alisyn Camerota, remains with CNN working on special projects and hosting primetime specials.

Chris Cuomo, who came from ABC’s “Good Morning America,” departed from a primetime spot, but was eventually fired by the network in 2021. He now anchors a show at NewsNation.

Brianna Keilar, who anchored “New Day” from 2021 to 2022 as part of an attempt to revitalize the program, remained with the network after the network opted to rename the show to “This Morning.” She now co-anchors the afternoon edition of “NewsCentral.”

John Berman exited “New Day” when “This Morning” launched to co-anchor the morning edition of “NewsCentral” with Bolduan and Sara Sidner.

Mattingly himself essentially replaced two empty anchor spots left after the network moved original co-anchor Kaitlan Collins to primetime after less than a year on “This Morning.” Collins’ former co-anchor Don Lemon was fired from the network in April 2023, leaving only Harlow.

CNN named Mattingly to become Harlow’s co-anchor in 2023, switching the show to a two anchor format.

Before “This Morning,” Mattingly was CNN’s chief white house correspondent covering the Biden Administration.

In that position he received the 2023 White House Correspondents’ Association Award for Excellence in Presidential Coverage Under Deadline Pressure in Broadcast for being ahead of the competition and the official White House announcement in breaking news of the details of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s planned trip to the White House in December 2022.

He led CNN’s coverage of every moment of Zelensky’s visit, including their joint press conference where he asked both leaders questions that elicited deeply personal and newsworthy responses at a critical inflection point for the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Mattingly was praised by the judges for his 16 live shots in a 24-hour period that “combined scoops, context and depth.”

Prior to that, Mattingly was CNN’s senior White House Correspondent covering the Biden administration where he reported in depth on the policy and personnel driving the administration’s first two years in office. Mattingly consistently broke important news around the administration, including the news that Biden would sanction Russian President Vladimir Putin, details on a new multinational coordinated effort to target Russian supply chains, important developments in Biden’s OPEC negotiations, and more.

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Before moving to the White House beat in January 2021, Mattingly was a Congressional Correspondent. In that role, Mattingly was one of the lead reporters contributing to CNN’s extensive coverage of the Republican attempts to repeal and replace Obamacare, the Capitol Hill spending and shutdown battles, as well as each step of the process to overhaul the U.S. tax system. As part of that effort, he secured an exclusive interview with Speaker Paul Ryan on the details of the GOP tax bill on the day it was first released.

Mattingly joined CNN in December 2015 as a New York-based correspondent and spent 2016 on the campaign trail covering Republican presidential candidates Chris Christie, John Kasich and Donald Trump, which included a series of investigative pieces into Trump’s business history, finances and taxes. Previously, Mattingly worked at Bloomberg Television in Washington, where he served as a national political correspondent and before that, as the network’s White House correspondent. In that capacity, Mattingly covered all of the major presidential candidates and reported on the domestic and foreign policy actions of the Obama administration.

He graduated from The Ohio State University in 2006, where he was a scholar varsity athlete. He received his Master’s Degree in journalism from Boston University in 2008.