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Zelenskyy plans major announcement on presidential election, referendum: report
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is reportedly planning to announce a presidential election and a referendum on a potential peace deal to end the war with Russia, with the declaration expected on Feb. 24, the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
The Financial Times, citing Ukrainian and European officials involved in the planning, reported on Wednesday that both a presidential vote, in which Zelenskyy would seek re-election, and a nationwide referendum could be held by May 15.
The outlet said Kyiv could risk losing proposed U.S. security guarantees if it does not hold both votes by that date.
The Financial Times noted that although earlier U.S.-imposed deadlines have come and gone, American officials are this time applying heavier pressure on Ukraine as the November midterm elections loom.
ZELENSKYY READY TO PRESENT NEW PEACE PROPOSALS TO US AND RUSSIA AFTER WORKING WITH EUROPEAN TALKS
It added that the timeline could also be complicated by the wide gap between Moscow and Kyiv on key territorial issues, including control of the Donbas region and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, as well as the need for parliament to amend legislation because martial law currently bars national elections during wartime.
Zelenskyy previously stressed that the timing and format of any elections are matters solely for Ukraine and its citizens, rejecting any suggestion that the Kremlin could dictate the process.
In several lengthy posts on X in December, he argued that two key factors would determine whether voting is possible: security and legislation.
ZELENSKYY SAYS US SECURITY GUARANTEES DOCUMENT IS '100% READY' FOR SIGNING
Zelenskyy said voting can only take place on Ukrainian-controlled territory and must ensure the participation of soldiers defending the country. Elections cannot be held in Russian-occupied areas, he explained, because of concerns over how they would be conducted.
He also suggested that a ceasefire, at least for the duration of an election or referendum, may be necessary to guarantee secure conditions, including protected airspace and the presence of international observers.
The reported deadline from the Trump administration comes after The Associated Press reported that Washington is aiming for the war to end by June.
Trilateral talks between the United States, Russia and Ukraine were held in Abu Dhabi in early February, where the sides met twice but emerged with only a limited breakthrough — agreeing to a 314-person prisoner exchange, the first such swap in five months.
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said Washington and Moscow agreed to reestablish a military-to-military dialogue, calling the channel "crucial to achieving and maintaining peace."
He said trilateral discussions would continue in the coming weeks after the delegations report back to their respective capitals.
'GOP' House candidate admits she's actually a progressive in viral video: 'Telling people the truth'
A video is going viral of a congressional candidate in North Carolina admitting she is truly a "progressive" even though she is running as a Republican.
"Are you trying to trick people?" Katie Barr, who is running in North Carolina's 14th Congressional District, was asked on a podcast called "The Hometown Holler."
"If you go on the campaign website, above the fold as they call it, is like, 'I'm not a real Republican.' Like, I am telling people the truth. I knock on a door and say, ‘I am running in the Republican primary, but I am not a Republican, I am a progressive,’" Barr responded. "I can't claim a Democrat anymore."
She added that her goal is not "to pull a fast one," claiming she is just "being dead honest with people about what I would do if I win."
SUSAN COLLINS SHRUGS OFF ATTACKS BY DEMOCRATS AND TRUMP, SAYS MAINE VOTERS ‘DON’T VOTE PARTY LINE'
On Nov. 6, Barr filed paperwork to challenge incumbent Rep. Tim Moore, R-N.C., to represent the state's 14th Congressional District.
Barr states on her website's home page that she is running as a Republican because it's "the only way to kick these corrupt cowards out of office." She claims that Republicans have "rigged the maps" to ensure they will come out victors "every time."
"The general election has already been decided. So - the primary is the only competition for this job," Barr's website explains.
FOREIGN BILLIONAIRES FUNNEL $2.6B TO US ADVOCACY GROUPS TO INFLUENCE POLICY, WATCHDOG REPORT CLAIMS
Barr reiterated that she has been "honest" about who she is and how she plans to govern "from the start" in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"Tim Moore is terrible for the voters of district 14," Barr continued. "He’s getting rich off of his position while voters struggle. And Tim rigged this district to make sure he’d stay in office despite it all. That’s wrong. I’m running so voters have a real choice."
While Barr has faced criticism online over her maneuver, with critics calling the move cheating and describing it as shameful, at least one conservative critic doesn't think it is as big of a deal as some are making it out to be.
"I hate to burst the outrage bubble, but she's not making a big secret out of this. It's her whole schtick, and it's front and center on her campaign website," said Second Amendment activist Cam Edwards, on X, in response to the viral video of Barr.
Vance warns Iran that 'another option on the table' if nuclear deal not reached
Vice President JD Vance warned Iran that there is "another option on the table" if the regime does not make a nuclear deal with the U.S.
Vance made the statement while speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force Two on Tuesday. A reporter referenced President Donald Trump's musings about potentially deploying a second aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East.
"How confident are you in going the diplomatic route? Do you think that is still going to be successful or are we leaning more towards a military strike?" the reporter asked.
"The president has told his entire senior team that we should be trying to cut a deal that ensures the Iranians don't have nuclear weapons," Vance responded.
TRUMP, NETANYAHU TO MEET AT WHITE HOUSE IN HIGH-STAKES TALKS ON IRAN, GAZA PLAN
"But if we can't cut that deal, then there's another option on the table. So I think the president is going to continue to preserve his options. He's going to have a lot of options because we have the most powerful military in the world. But until the president tells us to stop, we're going to engage in these conversations and try to reach a good outcome through negotiation," he continued.
Vance went on to downplay pushes for regime change in Iran, saying a removal of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's regime would be up to "the Iranian people."
He said the Trump administration's only focus is preventing the current Iranian regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
NIKKI HALEY URGES TRUMP TO MAKE IRAN ACTION A 'LEGACY-DEFINING MOMENT' BEFORE LEAVING OFFICE
Vance's comments come a day before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet with Trump at the White House on Wednesday, with Iran expected to take center stage in the meeting.
In a phone interview with Axios, the president said Tehran "very much wants to reach a deal," but warned, "Either we make a deal, or we’ll have to do something very tough — like last time."
IRAN PUSHES FOR FRIDAY NUCLEAR TALKS IN OMAN AMID RISING TENSIONS WITH US FORCES: SOURCE
Netanyahu, speaking before departing Israel for Washington, said he intends to present Israel’s position.
"I will present to the president our concept regarding the principles of the negotiations — the essential principles that are important not only to Israel but to anyone who wants peace and security in the Middle East," he told reporters.
U.S. and Iranian officials resumed talks in Oman this week for the first time since last summer’s 12-day war. The United States continues to maintain a significant military presence in the Gulf, a posture widely viewed as both deterrence and for holding leverage in negotiations with Tehran.
Dementia risk may rise with a common afternoon snack mistake, experts warn
Grabbing something sugary in the mid-afternoon can feel like an easy fix for low energy, but the timing could have an impact on brain health, experts say.
For many Americans, the most vulnerable eating decisions of the day happen between lunch and dinner, and those decisions could have long-term consequences for how the body and brain handle blood sugar later in the day, according to recent research and reports.
Experts say the timing and the type of snack matter more than most people think.
'ADDICTIVE' ULTRA-PROCESSED FOODS LINKED TO SPIKE IN CHRONIC DISEASE, RESEARCHERS WARN
"Blood sugar crashes are a big deal because our brains don't have a reserve tank," said Kiara DeWitt, a Texas-based certified neurology nurse and head of clinical operations at Medical Director Co.
"It's all about a steady stream of glucose," DeWitt told Fox News Digital.
"Simple sugars and processed foods with inflammatory seed oils push your glucose higher quicker. … The less you eat these snacks, the less stress you're putting on your brain."
Ultra-processed snacks high in added sugar can create rapid blood sugar spikes followed by sharp crashes, triggering inflammation and insulin resistance that impair how neurons function over time, she added.
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Those effects may be amplified between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., when cortisol naturally dips and energy from lunch has worn off.
When glycogen stores are low, blood sugar highs and lows feel more extreme, which can be especially challenging for the brain, DeWitt said.
Research has shown a link between post-meal blood sugar spikes and the risk of Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia. A large genetic analysis found that people with elevated blood sugar two hours after eating were 69% more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease.
"Over time, high blood sugars damage blood vessels in the brain, which increases the risk of memory and learning problems," registered dietitian Tanya Freirich of North Carolina previously told Fox News Digital.
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Experts emphasize that sugar itself isn't the enemy — rather, refined, fast-absorbing sugar is.
Whole fruit, for example, behaves very differently than cookies or candy.
Fiber slows digestion, preventing sharp glucose spikes while delivering antioxidants that protect brain cells.
The problem, DeWitt said, is simple sugars and processed foods push glucose up quickly and crash it just as fast.
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Experts recommend snacks that combine protein, fiber and healthy fats, helping glucose stay within a narrow, steady range for hours.
DeWitt's go-to options include nuts, Greek yogurt and apple slices with nut butter.
"How you snack matters just as much as when you decide to snack," she said.
Fox News Digital's Melissa Rudy contributed reporting.
American Olympian Ryan Cochran-Siegle picks up silver in men's super-G
Olympic skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle picked up Team USA’s latest medal on Wednesday, capturing a silver in the alpine skiing men’s super-G.
Cochran-Siegle put together a time of 1:25.45 and finished 0.13 seconds behind Swiss skiing star Franjo von Allmen, who picked up his third gold medal of the Milan Cortina Games. Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt won the bronze.
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For Cohran-Siegle, it's his second Olympic medal of his career. He won a silver medal in the same event at the Beijing Olympics in 2022. He came in 14th in super-G at his first appearance in the Games in 2018 in Pyeongchang.
He finished 18th in downhill earlier in this Olympics.
AMERICAN ASHLEY FARQUHARSON CAPTURES RARE OLYMPIC LUGE MEDAL AT WINTER GAMES
Americans Sam Morse, Kyle Negomir and River Radamus also competed in the super-G. Morse finished in 23rd place with a time of 1:27.12, and Negomir finished in 26th with a time 1:28.62. Radamus didn’t complete the course, as he slipped and fell out of position. He appeared to be frustrated with himself as he skied toward officials that were near his part of the hill.
Cochran-Siegle, who is from Vermont and skis out of the Mount Mansfield club, made his World Cup debut when he was 19. But he hasn’t finished better than seventh in the super-G in his career. He is finished for these Games and will cheer on his skiing teammates the rest of the way.
Negomir will compete in the giant slalom and team combined later in these Games. Ryder Sarchett will also compete in the giant slalom. Negomir and Radamus competed in the team combined and finished 18th.
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Pritzker joins chorus of Dem governors boycotting White House dinner after snub ignites 'chaos'
A chorus of Democratic governors are rallying behind their fellow Democratic Governors Jared Polis, from Colorado, and Wes Moore, from Maryland, after they did not receive invites for a traditionally bipartisan White House dinner.
Illinois Democrat Governor JB Pritzker was among those who decided they would be boycotting the slate of events hosted at the White House for the National Governors Association's annual winter gathering held Feb. 19–21.
"No way will I attend the White House dinner with this President," Gov. Pritzker said Tuesday. "I’m standing with Gov. Wes Moore and Gov. Jared Polis — and standing against Trump’s corruption and hatred. And I’m calling on my Republican colleagues to do the same."
The boycott is being led by the chair of the Democratic Governors Association, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, and its vice chair, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Other Democratic Party governors who have committed to the boycott include California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. A coalition of 18 governors signed a statement Tuesday slamming President Donald Trump for creating "chaos and division" by snubbing the state leaders.
GOP MUTINY FORCES HOUSE SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON TO DELAY VOTE ON KEY PIECE OF TRUMP'S AGENDA
The White House reportedly decided to divert from the traditional path of inviting both Republican and Democratic governors to the events being held at the White House. Although a White House official also reportedly told Politico that "many Democrats were invited to dinner at the White House" while others were not.
The move not to invite all Democrat governors to the winter gathering comes after President Trump got into a public spat with Democrat Governor of Maine, Janet Mills, at a bipartisan "Governors Working Session" last year in February over transgender sports participation. The heated back-and-forth was televised on national stations for all to see and led to the pair exchanging barbs for the subsequent weeks over the matter and over the state's unwillingness to follow federal orders, such as those related to transgender sports participation.
When reached for comment on the matter, a White House spokesperson referred Fox News Digital to press secretary Karoline Leavitt's comments Tuesday on the matter from the White House briefing room, during which she defended President Trump's decision to not invite the Democratic Party governors.
"I just spoke with the president about this. It is a dinner at the White House. It's the people's house. It's also the president's home, and so he can invite whomever he wants to dinners and events here at the White House," Leavitt told reporters from the White House briefing room Tuesday.
FAR-LEFT NONPROFITS IN THE HOT SEAT AS LAWMAKER EXPOSES THEM FOR ‘SOWING CHAOS’ IN US
She added that Gov. Moore had been invited the previous year, but never ended up coming. "Nobody reported on it. But, again, the president has the discretion to invite whomever he wants to the White House, and he welcomes all those who received an invitation to come and if they don't want to that's their loss."
During an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union," Moore suggested his lack of an invite was due to race, telling the show it was "not lost" on him that he is the only Black governor in the country and the president was trying to deny him attendance at an organization's event that Moore said his fellow Democrat governors have said they would like to see him lead. Moore also pointed to the fact he led a delegation of governors to the White House several weeks ago.
In a statement, Brandon Tatum, CEO of the National Governors Association (NGA), said he was "disappointed in the administration's decision."
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican who is the chairman of the NGA, said in a Monday letter to fellow governors that the association was "no longer serving as the facilitator" for the upcoming event, according to The Associated Press. Stitt said the NGA was meant to represent all governors — those of the 50 states as well as the governors of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
WWE legend reveals harrowing health battle: 'It’s been a fight'
WWE legend Fred Ottman, known in the ring as Typhoon, opened up on Sunday about a health scare that caused him a lengthy hospital stay last month.
The former pro wrestler said he had been in the hospital for about 30 days and wanted to let his fans, family and loved ones know that he was doing OK, but wasn’t "out of the woods yet."
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"Unfortunately, my gallbladder exploded inside of me and it released a bunch of poison into my body," Ottman said. "So, I’ve been on my back for 30 days. The doctors have been amazing – my surgeons and that stuff. I had a major infection along with some of the stuff I’ve been dealing with. As far as infection goes, if I would’ve waited one more day, the doctors told my wife that I probably wouldn’t be here with you or be able to talk to you guys. God bless.
"But I’m here, I lost a lot of muscle mass. I’ve lost a lot of different things. It’s been a brutal fight. I’ve been learning how to walk again. It’s been a fight, it’s been a fight."
Former pro wrestling stars, including tag team Demolition, Bryan Clark and others sent their condolences to Ottman on Instagram.
WWE STAR ROMAN REIGNS CHOOSES CM PUNK AS WRESTLEMANIA 42 OPPONENT, DELIVERS BLISTERING PROMO
The 69-year-old began his pro wrestling career in 1985 and was known as Sigfried when he debuted for Championship Wrestling in Georgia. He performed in several territories before making his World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) debut as Tugboat in 1989.
He was reintroduced as Typhoon in 1991 and one half of the tag team known as The Natural Disasters with Earthquake. He had a stint in World Championship Wrestling as The Shockmaster in 1993 and 1994 before getting one more stint in the WWF.
Ottman wrestled elsewhere after his last WWF stint in 1994. He appeared in a 20-man battle royal at WrestleMania 17.
Last year, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame with Earthquake.
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Person questioned in Nancy Guthrie disappearance released after Arizona stop
A person who was briefly detained for questioning Tuesday evening in Rio Rico, Arizona, in connection with the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie has been released, authorities said.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said deputies detained an individual during a traffic stop south of Tucson, near the U.S.-Mexico border, hours after the FBI released surveillance images of a masked person wearing what appeared to be a handgun holster outside Guthrie’s front door the night she vanished.
The department and the FBI also conducted a court-authorized search at a home in Rio Rico, a community of about 20,000 residents roughly an hour south of Tucson and about 15 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. Authorities said Tuesday night the search was expected to take several hours. By Wednesday morning, investigators had left the residence, the scene was cleared, and police tape had been removed.
A man at the home identified himself to Fox News as Carlos Palazuelos. He said he was the person pulled over during the traffic stop and detained for questioning but has since been released and is back at the house.
Palazuelos told Fox News he works in Tucson delivering packages and said he had nothing to do with Guthrie’s disappearance. He said investigators questioned him about his whereabouts and took his phone before ultimately releasing him.
Palazuelos said it was a "possibility" he may have delivered a package to Guthrie’s residence.
He said law enforcement showed one of his in-laws a photo of a masked person seen in surveillance footage on Guthrie’s property and that it "supposedly looked like my eyes."
"That’s it. That’s all I know," Palazuelos said.
The FBI on Tuesday released short surveillance clips showing a masked person wearing a backpack and what appeared to be a handgun holster outside Guthrie’s home the night she disappeared. At one point, the individual appears to tilt their head away from a doorbell camera, hold a flashlight in their mouth and attempt to cover the lens with a gloved hand and what looked like part of a plant pulled from the yard.
Investigators have said for more than a week that they believe Guthrie was taken against her will. She was last seen at her home on Jan. 31 and was reported missing the next day. DNA testing determined that blood found on her porch belonged to her, authorities have said.
Guthrie, 84, is the mother of "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie. Her disappearance on Feb. 1 has drawn national attention. Savannah Guthrie and her two siblings have released multiple video statements pleading for their mother’s return and indicating a willingness to pay a ransom, while asking for proof that she is alive.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said Nancy Guthrie is mentally sound but has limited mobility and takes several medications, raising concerns about her health if she does not have access to them.
The FBI has begun posting digital billboards in several major cities seeking tips, and officials have urged anyone with information to contact investigators.
Hamas kidnapped us together, held us apart for over a year — and now we’re starting over
My name is Arbel Yehoud. I am 30, and I was born and raised in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
My name is Ariel Cunio. I am 28, and I was also born and raised in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
We grew up just a few steps apart, in the same small community in southern Israel, long before we ever imagined our lives would be defined by survival.
SCHOLAR CHALLENGES MS RACHEL’S GAZA MESSAGING AS ANTISEMITISM SURGES GLOBALLY
On Oct. 7, 2023, we were kidnapped from our home by Hamas terrorists. Arbel was held in captivity for 482 days. Ariel was held for 738 days. We were taken together and separated within hours.
What carried us through those days in hell was not certainty, or strength, or hope in the abstract. It was love.
We grew up together, walking the same paths, surrounded by the same quiet routines. Our parents were neighbors and close friends. We didn't plan to fall in love. When it found us, it arrived quietly and unexpectedly.
At first, we kept it to ourselves. Ariel was about to leave on a long trip abroad, and distance felt like an inevitable ending. But the farther apart we were, the deeper our love grew. When we reunited, we knew we wanted to build a life together.
We moved into a small modest home on the kibbutz. We built a simple, happy routine: cooking together, dancing in the living room, walking through open fields, talking about the future. We dreamed of children, of family and of growing old in the same place where we once played as kids.
In early Oct. 2023, we adopted our puppy, Murph. Life felt full. Peaceful.
And then, on Oct. 7, everything ended.
We woke to sirens. When we heard gunfire, we hoped it was the army. We locked ourselves inside. When voices in Arabic drew closer, we still didn't understand. Then our door was forced open. We hid under the bed and tried to stay silent. They found us. Our dog was shot and killed in front of us. We were beaten, our ribs broken, dragged outside, stripped of our safety and dignity. Our home became the scene of our world ending.
We drove past a burning home belonging to Ariel's brother and his family, not knowing if they were alive. We were driven on a motorcycle, assaulted, transferred into Gaza, interrogated. Then, only three hours after being kidnapped, we were torn apart, screaming.
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No goodbye. No last words. No way of knowing if we would ever see each other again. From that moment on, we were completely alone.
Each of us was held separately in inhumane conditions: hunger, fear, humiliation, constant threat. Days without light, without time, without knowing what had happened to our families or to each other. The loneliness was the hardest part: being alone with despair, with terror, with the thought that survival might be too much to bear.
In the darkness, we had nothing left but memory. So we held on to each other in our minds. Arbel wrote pages filled with dreams of a shared future, drawings of a wedding, of children, of ordinary life. That notebook eventually reached Ariel. It became a lifeline. Proof that someone was waiting.
Both of us reached breaking points during captivity. Both of us thought about taking our own lives. And both of us stopped for the same reason: the thought of the other. The understanding that if one of us disappeared, the other would not survive either.
When Arbel was released after 482 days, freedom didn't feel like freedom. Ariel was left behind. The guilt was unbearable — guilt for breathing fresh air, for seeing daylight, for being safe while the other remained captive. Instead of healing, the fight began. Arbel traveled the world, speaking out, meeting leaders, trying to explain what it means to be held alone in captivity, to lose hope, to have your soulmate left behind with time running out.
Months later, against all odds, we were reunited. Ariel was released after 738 days.
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Now we have no home to return to. The house we built our life in is gone. Roughly a quarter of our kibbutz were murdered or kidnapped that horrific Saturday. The community we knew has been destroyed. The life we once imagined no longer exists.
But we are here. Together.
CNN ratings down bigly from 2017 'Trump bump' through 2025 amid changing media landscape
CNN benefited from the "Trump bump" during President Donald Trump’s first administration, but ratings are down bigly the second time around as both the media landscape and the network have changed drastically.
An analysis shows CNN has lost more than 40% of its total day and primetime audience from 2017 to 2025, the respective first years of the two Trump presidencies.
In 2015, CNN averaged 711,000 primetime viewers with a total daily audience of only 489,000. That year, Trump didn’t descend the escalator to announce his presidential run until mid-June, and he wasn’t taken particularly seriously by the mainstream press for much of the year.
By early 2016, as it became clear that Trump had a legitimate chance at becoming the Republican Party's nominee, CNN and other media outlets started to realize that the "Apprentice" star was a significant ratings draw.
FOX NEWS CHANNEL MARKS 24 CONSECUTIVE YEARS AS MOST-WATCHED CABLE NEWS NETWORK WITH DOMINANT JANUARY
CNN famously aired empty podiums at Trump events in anticipation of him speaking in order to keep viewers hooked. It carried his rallies live, sometimes taking heat from the left for giving so much attention to the GOP nominee. The result was a massive ratings bump that saw CNN average 1.3 million primetime viewers and a total day audience of 752,000 in 2016.
CNN’s spike continued in 2017 during the first year of Trump’s presidency, as the network embraced "resistance" programming and then-White House correspondent Jim Acosta emerged as a household name, often feuding with Trump and members of the administration.
CNN’s primetime lineup averaged 1 million viewers, and the network managed a total daily audience of 775,000 despite being regularly being mocked as "fake news" by the president himself.
During that time, the term "Trump bump" emerged in the cable news industry and CNN. CNN’s end-of-year press release touted "a ratings milestone," and Axios reported that Trump delivered a "ratings boom."
Fast-forward to 2025 and CNN looks remarkably different. Primetime hosts Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo are long gone, Acosta is no longer with the network, and CNN has seen a variety of leadership changes.
FOX NEWS DIGITAL THRIVES IN 2025, POSTS BEST YEAR IN HISTORY WITH 143 MILLION UNIQUE VISITORS
Then-CNN President Jeff Zucker, who oversaw the pivot from a just-the-facts news network to anti-Trump opinion programming, was forced out ahead of a long-planned merger that put the network in the hands of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Zucker’s first successor, Chris Licht, attempted to tamp down the partisanship to no avail, and was replaced by Mark Thompson in 2023. CNN is for sale, again, and only Anderson Cooper remains from the 2017 primetime lineup.
The results have not been pretty, and CNN’s current leadership has been unable to capitalize on the second Trump presidency.
In 2025, CNN’s primetime viewership plummeted to 573,000 and its total day audience was only 432,000. From 2017 through 2025, CNN saw 45% of its primetime audience flee and lost 44% of total day viewers.
CNN insiders insist the ratings debacle is a result of audiences consuming news on other platforms nowadays. Streaming audiences have grown significantly across the industry, and a never-ending catalogue of political podcasts is available.
The share of U.S. households without cable increases each year, and roughly 80 million homes have cut the cord, while roughly 54 million homes still pay for the service, according to Evoca. But the issues for CNN aren't caused by cord-cutting alone, as Fox News Channel grew 10% during primetime and 13% among total day during the same time period. Along the way, Fox News’ share of the cable news audience grew from 47% in 2017 to 63% in 2025.
FOX NEWS HAS BEST YEAR EVER ON YOUTUBE WITH 4.5 BILLION VIDEO VIEWS TO LEAD ALL NEWS BRANDS
Fox News contributor Joe Concha said CNN hemorrhaging viewers indicates the network has seen viewers tune out as it lost credibility with Americans.
"This shows that the networks that have cried wolf, or in this case, cried Trump, have gone to that well about one thousand times more than even many of their viewers can stand," Concha told Fox News Digital.
Concha criticized CNN for giving what he called slanted coverage of a variety of topics since 2017, including pushing the Russian collusion narrative while dismissing Hunter Biden’s laptop.
CNN’s 2025 also hit all-time lows among the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults aged 25–54 in 2025, averaging only 102,000 demo viewers during primetime and 70,000 throughout the day.
NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck said the media landscape has evolved, and Trump’s critics no longer need to rely on cable news.
"CNN and the artist formerly known as MSNBC were the go-to gathering places for The Resistance in the first Trump term," Houck told Fox News Digital.
"Now, they're part of a tableau from hell with podcasts like the wicked witches of 'I've Had It,' The Bulwark crowd conserving conservatism, MeidasTouch… resistance wine moms have a lot of options to consume their Trump hate and talking points," Houck continued.
DePauw University professor and media analyst Jeffrey McCall feels the drastic decline in CNN’s audience was likely caused by a combination of factors.
"One key is that the establishment media and left-of-center voters were in deep denial when Trump first won the presidency in 2017. They couldn't believe Hillary had actually lost, which led to the Russia collusion conspiracy theories and related reporting, and then eventually to impeachment. There was great hope at that time for the Trump ‘resistance,’ and those niche viewers couldn't get enough of that coverage," McCall told Fox News Digital.
McCall said that "the resistance has not evaporated by any means," but "there is less sense on the left that all-out resistance is needed or can even work," given that Trump bounced back politically, and he can't run for a third term.
"Even the ‘hair on fire’ rhetoric that Trump won't leave the White House after this current term, and will maneuver into a third term, is getting no traction," McCall said.