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Chris Wallace signs off from FOX News after 18 years, heads to CNN+

The veteran broadcast journalist's next venture will be a weekday show, starting in 2022.

By Karen Butler and Allen Cone
Debate moderator and FOX News anchor Chris Wallace directs the first presidential debate between Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump in Cleveland in 2020. Wallace, 74, announced his departure from Fox News Sunday. Pool Photo by Oliver Doulier/UPI
Debate moderator and FOX News anchor Chris Wallace directs the first presidential debate between Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump in Cleveland in 2020. Wallace, 74, announced his departure from Fox News Sunday. Pool Photo by Oliver Doulier/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Veteran broadcast journalist Chris Wallace announced his departure from FOX News on the air Sunday morning.

CNN confirmed Wallace will next host a weekday show for its streaming platform CNN+, which is set to debut in 2022.

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"After 18 years -- this is my final FOX News Sunday," said the 74-year-old son of late 60 Minutes icon Mike Wallace.

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"It is the last time -- and I say this with real sadness -- we will meet like this. Eighteen years ago, the bosses here at FOX promised me they would never interfere with a guest I booked or a question I asked. And they kept that promise," he added. "I have been free to report to the best of my ability, to cover the stories I think are important, to hold our country's leaders to account. It's been a great ride."

Wallace, 74, covered five presidential elections and interviewed every president since George H.W. Bush, as well as world leaders such as France's Emanuel Macron and Russia's Vladimir Putin.

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He was Fox News' first journalist to moderate a general election presidential debate in 2016. He also moderated one in 2020.

"The fact you've chosen to spend this hour with us is something I cherish. But after 18 years, I have decided to leave FOX," Wallace told his viewers Sunday. "I want to try something new, to go beyond politics to all the things I'm interested in. I'm ready for a new adventure. And I hope you'll check it out."

The network said his show will continue and will be hosted by rotating news anchors until a permanent anchor is announced.

"We are extremely proud of our journalism and the stellar team that Chris Wallace was a part of for 18 years," FOX News Media said in a statement. "The legacy of FOX News Sunday will continue with our star journalists, many of whom will rotate in the position until a permanent host is named."

Wallace previously worked for ABC from 1989-2003 and NBC from 1975-88, including serving as NBC's White House correspondent in the 1980s and moderator of Meet the Press from 1987-88. He began his career as a reported for the Boston Globe and for WBBM-TV in Chicago.

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