CNN Chief National Security Correspondent Alex Marquardt left the network on Monday—months after the network settled a defamation suit stemming from his reporting. CNN settled with defense contractor Zachary Young in January after a Florida jury ruled the network had defamed him in a November 2021 report that alleged he gouged prices for those who sought to flee Afghanistan as the United States withdrew from the country.

A CNN correspondent at the center of a nefarious report that cost the network at least $5 million for defaming a US Navy veteran is leaving the struggling network.