John Harwood (born November 5, 1956) is an American journalist who worked as White House Correspondent for CNN from February 2021 until September 2022. Harwood was formerly an editor-at-large for

CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...

. He was the chief

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Correspondent for CNBC and a contributor for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. He wrote a weekly column entitled "The Caucus" that appeared on Monday about Washington politics and policy. Before joining the ''Times'', he wrote for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

''.

Early life and education

Harwood's father, Richard Harwood, was a reporter and writer for ''

The Louisville Times ''The Louisville Times'' was a newspaper that was published in Louisville, Kentucky. It was founded in 1884 by Walter N. Haldeman, as the afternoon counterpart to ''The Courier-Journal'', the dominant morning newspaper in Louisville and the common ...

'' and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''. According to John Harwood's article in ''The Washington Post'' (April 30, 2000, page B4), Harwood's mother was an active campaigner for the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. Harwood, at age 11, appeared in a television ad for Kennedy's 1968 campaign. Harwood graduated from

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School (B-CC) is a public high school in Montgomery County, Maryland. It is named for two of the towns it serves; it also serves Kensington and Silver Spring. It is located at 4301 East-West Highway, in Bethesda. In May ...

, where he edited the school newspaper, ''The Tattler''. (Harwood was the commencement speaker for the high school's graduating class of 2010.) While in high school, Harwood served as a copy boy for the ''

Washington Star ''The Washington Star'', previously known as the ''Washington Star-News'' and the Washington ''Evening Star'', was a daily afternoon newspaper published in Washington, D.C., between 1852 and 1981. The Sunday edition was known as the ''Sunday Sta ...

,'' his first journalism job. Harwood attended Duke University, studying history and economics there. He graduated magna cum laude in 1978.

Journalism career

After graduating from college, Harwood joined the '' St. Petersburg Times'' in Florida, working in

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater ...

Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the population ...

, and

. He traveled to South Africa, covering developments in the final years of

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. He was a

Nieman Fellow The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University awards multiple types of fellowships. Nieman Fellowships for journalists A Nieman Fellowship is an award given to journalists by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

from 1989 to 1990. Harwood became the White House correspondent for the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' in 1991, covering the George H. W. Bush administration. He subsequently became a Capitol Hill correspondent and, in 1997, political editor and chief political correspondent for the newspaper. Harwood became chief Washington correspondent for CNBC in March 2006. Harwood frequently appears on ''

Washington Week ''Washington Week''—previously ''Washington Week in Review''—is an American public affairs television program, which has aired on PBS and its predecessor, National Educational Television, since 1967. Unlike other panel discussion shows whic ...

'', a public affairs program on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

formerly hosted by

Gwen Ifill Gwendolyn L. Ifill ( ; September 29, 1955 – November 14, 2016) was an American journalist, television newscaster, and author. In 1999, she became the first African-American woman to host a nationally televised U.S. public affairs program ...

, as well as

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's ''

Meet the Press ''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television news/interview program broadcast on NBC. It is the longest-running program on American television, though the current format bears little resemblance to the debut episode on November 6, 1947. ' ...

'', and

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...

's '' Morning Joe''. He and co-author Gerald Seib were

Tim Russert Timothy John Russert (May 7, 1950 – June 13, 2008) was an American television journalist and lawyer who appeared for more than 16 years as the longest-serving moderator of NBC's ''Meet the Press''. He was a senior vice president at NBC News, Wa ...

's guests in Russert's last taped interview for Russert's

eponymous interview program, which was to air the weekend of June 14, 2008, just hours before Russert's death. Harwood was a moderator for CNBC's Republican primary presidential debate on October 28, 2015. Harwood was criticized by both the debate candidates, the media and his own CNBC colleagues for his performance as moderator. Harwood saw further criticism after the personal email account of

John Podesta John David Podesta Jr. (born January 8, 1949) is an American Political consulting, political consultant who has served as Senior Advisor to the President of the United States, Senior Advisor to President Joe Biden for clean energy innovation an ...

, who was then chairman of the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, was hacked and had its contents published by the website

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...

in October and November 2016. Among the emails were several from Harwood that some critics said indicated an unprofessional level of closeness or collusion between the two, including an email from May 2015 in which Harwood warned Podesta that then-candidate

Ben Carson Benjamin Solomon Carson Sr. (born September 18, 1951) is an American retired neurosurgeon and politician who served as the 17th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2017 to 2021. A pioneer in the field of neurosurgery, he ...

could represent "real trouble" to the Clinton campaign. The emails also revealed that Harwood had asked Podesta which questions he should ask Republican candidate

Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Bush, who grew up in Houston, was the second son of former President George H. W. Bush ...

during a debate. Harwood drew scrutiny from conservative critics on February 6, 2020 when he claimed that President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

was in "deep psychological distress" following his press conference after the U.S. Senate voted to acquit him on both articles of impeachment. On 2 September 2022, Harwood announced his departure from CNN via Twitter which many sources believe was unplanned, and a result of his disagreement with the network's new owners attempt to shift the network to the right.

References

External links

* *
Interview with Scott Walker
cnbc.com, September 2015; accessed November 20, 2016. {{DEFAULTSORT:Harwood, John 1956 births Living people American newspaper reporters and correspondents American television reporters and correspondents American broadcast news analysts The Wall Street Journal people The New York Times writers Duke University Trinity College of Arts and Sciences alumni People from Silver Spring, Maryland Television personalities from Louisville, Kentucky Writers from Louisville, Kentucky Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School alumni CNBC people Nieman Fellows Journalists from Kentucky American male journalists