Lou Dobbs, conservative commentator and original CNN anchor, dies at 78

Before Lou Dobbs became the conservative TV lightning rod that defined much of his career, Atlanta’s own Ted Turner hired him as a founding anchor of his cable television upstart CNN.

The Harvard-educated Dobbs, who had spent years at various television news affiliates, served as CNN’s top economics correspondent and became perhaps the best-known TV business journalist of all-time. From New York, he helmed programs, including “Moneyline,” for the cable news pioneer for nearly 30 years.

He also left the network twice, both splits acrimonious including his second run with the network. That was during the early years of President Barack Obama’s administration when Dobbs’ commentary became increasingly anti-immigration and he pushed the false accusation that the nation’s first Black president was not born in the U.S.

Dobbs, who later left to help launch Fox Business where he was a successful conservative firebrand, has died. He was 78. The Associated Press reported no cause of death was immediately given.

His death was announced Thursday on his account on X , formerly Twitter, and by former President Donald Trump, for whom Dobbs was an ardent supporter.

A post on Dobbs’ official X account called him a “fighter till the very end — fighting for what mattered to him the most, God, his family and the country.”

“Lou’s legacy will forever live on as a patriot and a great American,” the post said.

Before his days as a conservative pundit, Dobbs was synonymous with CNN and his trademark “Moneyline” show.

“Lou was one of the CNN originals, who helped launch and shape the network. We are saddened to hear about his passing and extend our sincerest condolences to his wife Debi, children and his family,” a CNN spokesperson said in an news story published on CNN.com.

Broadcast out of New York, the nightly half-hour “Moneyline” program focused on Wall Street and business news. “Moneyline” would quickly evolve into one of CNN’s profitable programs, prompting Turner to tap Dobbs to lead programming for another TV venture he planned launching: a financial news cable channel designed to compete with CNBC. Dobbs would build out CNNfn, as it was named, out of CNN’s existing staff.

It launched in 1995 and only lasted about nine years before folding, facing stiff competition for a niche market already served by CNBC.

Dobbs, who clashed with CNN leadership at the time, left for the first time in 1999 to start Space.com , an online publication focused on space exploration and astronomy. After the dot-com bubble burst, Dobbs returned to CNN in 2001.

During his second stint at CNN, he hosted “Lou Dobbs Reporting,” which later became “CNN News Sunday Morning.” He then hosted “Lou Dobbs Moneyline,” later renamed “Lou Dobbs Tonight.” But his views on immigration and promotion of “birtherism” again led to clashes with CNN management.

In 2011, he’d launch “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on Fox Business.

Credit: Greg Lovett

Over the past decade-and-a-half on Fox Business and after leaving the network, Dobbs’ political views inevitably made him a controversial figure. He became an outspoken critic of immigration, rejected climate change and peddled conspiracy theories about voter fraud and the “deep state.” He was also one of Trump’s most staunch supporters, devoting much of his nightly program in its later years to pro-Trump coverage.

When he joined Fox, he said he considered himself the underdog. A few years later his show was highly rated and he was a key figure on the right-leaning network.

“We’ll focus on the American people, their standard of living ... the American nation,” he said about his show in 2011 . “Those are always my starting points.”

Dobbs was named in a lawsuit against Fox News by Dominion Voting systems over lies told on the network about the 2020 presidential election. Fox Business canceled his program, then its highest-rated show, in 2021. The program was a loss leader for Fox because advertisers didn’t want to associate with Dobb’s content, CNN Business reported at the time .

A mediator in 2023 pushed Dominion and Fox toward a $787 million settlement , averting a trial. A mountain of evidence — some damning, some merely embarrassing — showed many Fox executives and on-air talent didn’t believe allegations aired mostly on shows hosted by Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro. At the time, they feared angering Trump fans in the audience with the truth.

Three years after his Fox Business cancellation, Dobbs moved his show to a streaming format in January of this year on a website owned by MyPillow founder, and fellow Trump ally, Mike Lindell.

Dobbs also found controversy during his days at CNN.

In 1992, he accepted outside fees without management approval for making videos for Wall Street investment firms, including the now-defunct financial institutions of Shearson Lehman Brothers and PaineWebber Group. A decade later, he received criticism for not disclosing his ties to another one of those firms, Arthur Andersen, when criticizing the Justice Department’s prosecution of the firm on “Moneyline.”

During his final broadcast on CNN in 2009, Dobbs stated: “it’s become increasingly clear that strong winds of change have begun buffeting this country,” and that media, political and business leaders have urged him “to go beyond the role here at CNN and to engage in constructive problem solving as well as to contribute positively to the great understanding of the issues of our day.”

Those issues, he believed, included the growth of the middle class, the creation of more jobs, immigration policy, the environment, climate change, among others, he said during the broadcast.

“Unfortunately, these issues are now defined in the public arena by partisanship and ideology rather than by rigorous, empirical thought and forthright analysis and discussion. I’ll be working diligently to change that as best I can,” Dobbs said.

-The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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