Major Garrett Leaves Fox News For National Journal

Major Garrett, one of Fox News' most prominent reporters and its chief White House correspondent, is leaving the cable channel to join National Journal as a congressional correspondent, the magazine announced today.

Garrett is the latest in a string of major reporters who have joined the national magazine, including former Associated Press Washington Bureau Chief Ron Fournier, former Los Angeles Times scribe Ron Brownstein, former Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper, and political analyst Matthew Dowd.

The National Journal announcement states:

Garrett comes to National Journal from Fox News Channel, where he is currently the Chief White House Correspondent. During his eight years at Fox News, Garrett also covered Congress, two presidential elections, the war in Iraq, and many other issues of national importance. He will join Sue Davis, recently hired from the Wall Street Journal, to lead National Journal's Congressional coverage.

“Major Garrett is the embodiment of the new team we're building here at National Journal,” said Editor-in-Chief Ron Fournier. “He is known across Washington as one of the hardest-working journalists in the business, a fierce competitor on his beat, and a good and decent man. It is a rare combination, and one we're incredibly lucky to be bringing into our newsroom.”

Before joining Fox News, Garrett was a White House correspondent for CNN, covering Presidents Bush and Clinton. Prior to that he was a senior editor and congressional correspondent for U.S. News & World Report, where he reported on Congress and the impeachment of President Clinton. From 1990-1995, he was a congressional reporter for The Washington Times, and from 1995-1997, he was the newspaper's deputy national editor. Earlier in his career, Garrett was a reporter for The Houston Post, Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Amarillo Globe-News.

“Throughout his professional career, Major Garrett has always exhibited an absolute commitment to the work of journalism - getting the story and explaining it,” said Ron Brownstein, Editorial Director of National Journal Group. “His success as a reporter - not his profile - is how he judges himself, and it's what motivates him. In this return to his roots, he'll be working his contacts and sources all over town, providing the kind of in-depth reporting and analysis for our readers that only someone with his experience can.”

“The highest compliment in this business is: 'I wish I had written that,'” said Garrett. “I've said that more times than I can count about National Journal reporting and the work of Ron Fournier and Ron Brownstein. I am and always have been a print reporter at heart. Returning to my roots is a homecoming of great personal and professional importance. This publication and this new job represent the culmination of my highest ambitions - to work alongside great reporters and find new ways to report, analyze and explain American politics. The word honor is sometimes hyperbole. Not now. I'm honored to join this team.”

Garrett has been unreachable for comment Wednesday.