Oliver Darcy

I'm doing well.

How are you?

I'll tell you, I'm not doing as well as Kash Patel in that locker room.

Yeah, quite a moment.

But we'll try to be as amped up as him.

Well, officially, as you know, he cited family and saying he wants to spend more time with kids.

But the reality is behind the scenes, he had grown quite uneasy with the direction CBS News was taking under Barry Weiss and under David Ellison's ownership.

And that's according to two people familiar with his decision making on this.

He was offered a renewal deal.

CBS News came to him.

They wanted him to renew.

In fact, they not only wanted him to renew, they wanted to make him the face of 60 Minutes and expand his footprint at the network.

Barry Weiss was very keen on this.

But at the end of the day, I think he decided that

he didn't really feel comfortable being associated with Barry Weiss's version of 60 Minutes, her version of CBS News.

And Anderson Cooper does not need the money.

He already has a CNN show.

He has a hit podcast.

And so he ultimately decides,

I'm just going to pass on this.