Shepard Smith, the former Fox News anchor who was a vocal opponent of President Trump and Christian causes announced Wednesday he'll be anchoring an evening newscast on another network.
"The News with Shepard Smith" will air weeknights at 7 p.m. Eastern on CNBC this fall.
"I am honored to continue to pursue the truth, both for CNBC's loyal viewers and for those who have been following my reporting for decades in good times and in bad," said Smith, who previously anchored "Shepard Smith Reporting," "The Fox Report" and "Studio B" on the Fox News Channel.
Smith left FNC in October after having been with the outlet for 23 years, prompting President Trump to quip: "Is he leaving? Oh, that's a shame."
In 2017, Smith opened up about his homosexuality, explaining: "I don't think about it. It's not a thing. I go to work. I manage a lot of people. I cover the news. I deal with holy hell around me. I go home to the man I'm in love with."
Smith said rumors that the late Fox CEO Roger Ailes forbade him from coming out were not true. He first announced he was "gay" in 2016 and added he never had a poor experience with Ailes.
"It's such a wonderful place," he said in an interview about the Fox organization, "and it's been home forever. [Ailes] was very fatherly and mentorish."
About the reports that Ailes forced him to closet his sexuality, Smith denied it ever happened, but revealed that purported homophobic remarks made by Ailes in the past – but never around Smith – did hurt him.
"He was as nice as he could be to me. I loved him like a father," Smith admitted. "I trusted him with my career and with – I trusted him and trusts were betrayed. People outside this company can't know [how painful that betrayal was]. This place has its enemies, but inside, it was very personal, and very scarring and horrifying."
In 2015, Smith cut into his own press conference coverage of the release of Kentucky clerk Kim Davis from jail to rail against her, as well as those who supported her denial of wedding certificates to same-sex couples, saying such is simply a "religious play" that has no business in government service.
He also compared Kim Davis supporters to those who oppose Sharia law, characterizing them as one and the same when it comes to ideology. Referring to Christians, Smith said, "Haters are going to hate."
That comment prompted Jane Mohline, a WND reader to say of Smith: "He's proven where his true character lies: in deception, in lies and in disrespect for anyone who disagrees with his limited, destructive life views and choices."
On the heels of Barack Obama's election to the presidency in 2008, Smith denied there was any mainstream media bias in favor of the Democrat.
When comedian Nick DiPaolo had said, "The mainstream media being so in the tank for Obama ... ."
"Oh, please. That's preposterous," interrupted Smith.
In 2010, reporting on alleged death threats and vandalism against members of Congress following the health-care vote, Smith took a shot at "Obamacare" opponents, linking their charges of encroaching "socialism" to inciting violence.
"We keep talking about these isolated incidents, and I wonder when it is that an isolated incident becomes a string of things?" Smith asked Carl Cameron, Fox News Channel chief political correspondent. "We have a congressman spat upon, we have a congressman with racial slurs, homophobic slurs against Barney Frank, it goes on and on, and now these death threats."
In July 2001, Smith, then the anchor of cable TV's highest-rated evening newscast, went unpunished for what police say was aggravated assault with a motor vehicle.
In November 2000, during the Florida presidential election fiasco, Smith had been arrested for allegedly driving his car into another reporter who was standing in a parking space she attempted to save for a friend. The victim, freelance journalist Maureen Walsh of Tallahassee, was hospitalized and released later the same day with bruises on her knees and legs.
According to police, Walsh was standing across the street from the state capitol when Smith drove up and "shouted some profanities at her and basically just struck her, striking her at the knees, which threw her up on the car."
After a few case-management hearings between attorneys and the court, the charges against Smith were dropped.
Mark Hoffman, chairman of CNBC, praised Smith for a track record of fact-driven storytelling.
"We aim to deliver a nightly program that, in some small way, looks for the signal in all the noise," Hoffman said. "We're thrilled that Shep, who's built a career on an honest fight to find and report the facts, will continue his pursuit of the truth at CNBC."
Follow Joe on Twitter @JoeKovacsNews