Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Philip Rucker has joined CNN as SVP of Editorial Strategy and News, the network announced today.
In this role, Rucker will bring his decades of experience as a newsroom leader to help mobilize CNN’s unmatched reporting firepower to continue to break news and tell urgent, distinctive stories in engaging formats across CNN’s platforms. As CNN moves to cover President Donald Trump’s second administration, Rucker, who has deep expertise from years reporting on and overseeing coverage of President Trump, is perfectly positioned to aid in leading our best-in-class coverage.
A veteran journalist, Rucker joins CNN from The Washington Post where he most recently served as National Editor, leading a staff of 150 journalists covering a plethora of beats including the White House, Congress, politics, national security, criminal justice, the Supreme Court, U.S. domestic news, health, education, science, race, immigration and more. During Rucker’s more than 20-year long career in journalism, he also previously served as The Post’s Deputy National Editor, Senior Washington Correspondent and White House Bureau Chief, leading award-winning coverage of Donald Trump’s presidency. Rucker joined The Post in 2005 as a local news reporter and previously has covered Congress, the Obama White House and the 2012, 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, as well as national breaking news.
Rucker has played a critical role on teams that have won three Pulitzer Prizes: In 2024 in National Reporting for the “American Icon” series examining the AR-15; in 2022 for Public Service for coverage of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol; and in 2018 for National Reporting for coverage of Russia’s interference in the U.S. election. He also has received the George Polk Award, the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for distinguished reporting on the presidency and the White House Correspondents’ Association’s Aldo Beckman Award for overall excellence in White House coverage.
Rucker co-authored, with Carol Leonnig, two No. 1 New York Times bestselling books: “A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America” (2020) and “I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year” (2021).
Rucker graduated with a degree in history from Yale University. He will be based out of CNN’s Washington, DC bureau and starts on February 10.
