Longtime Washington Post columnist Hugh Hewitt left the newspaper on Friday, he told Fox News Digital.

Hewitt, a conservative who hosts a national radio program, has been a newspaper columnist since 2017 and has written hundreds of pieces.

“I did quit the Post, but I was only writing a column for them every six weeks,” Hewitt told Fox News Digital, adding that he had recently offered to write another pro-Trump column for the paper prior to the elections. election. He informed editorial page editor David Shipley on Friday morning.

His last piece appeared on Tuesday. He called on the MAGA movement to evolve if Trump is re-elected president. He was a rare pro-Trump voice at the liberal newspaper, whose polling and editorial staff lean heavily left, but his pieces touched on a wide range of topics.

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Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt has quit his gig as a columnist for the Washington Post. (Washington Post)

Hewitt quit after a clip of him leaving the Washington Post’s online show “First Look” with liberal columnists Jonathan Capehart and Ruth Marcus on the “Washington Post Live” platform went viral earlier Friday. It came during a discussion about former President Trump’s rhetoric on election integrity.

“Does it appear that Donald Trump is laying the groundwork for challenging the election by complaining that there was cheating in Pennsylvania?” Capehart asked Marcus. “By suing Bucks County for alleged irregularities, and this is in addition to his continued claim that if he loses it will be due to cheating.”

Marcus said Trump had been preparing for months to blame an election loss on cheating.

“No election can be fair in the eyes of Donald Trump unless Donald Trump wins it,” Marcus said.

As Marcus continued, Hewitt tried to intervene, but Capehart snapped, “Let Ruth finish, Hugh.”

“Well, I just have to say that we are news people, even if it is the opinion section,” Hewitt said. ‘It must be reported. Bucks County was reversed by the court and instructed to open additional days because they were breaking the law and telling people to go home. So that lawsuit was filed by the Republican National Committee, and it was successful. The Supreme Court ruled that (Virginia Governor) Glenn Youngkin was successful.”

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Former President Trump speaks at Turning Point’s United for Change rally in Las Vegas on October 24. (Madeline Carter/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

“We are news people, even though we have opinions, and we have to report the whole story when we bring up part of the story,” Hewitt added. “So yeah, he’s upset about Bucks County, but he was right and he won in court. That’s the story.’

After a pause, Capehart said, “I don’t appreciate being lectured about reporting when, Hugh, you’ve come here many times and said a lot of things that aren’t based on fact.”

Hewitt stood up and said, “I’m not coming back, Jonathan. I’m done. I’m done. This is the most dishonest election ad I have ever been a part of. You work. That’s fine. I’m ready.”

With that, he left, leaving an empty corner of the screen as Capehart returned to Marcus to talk about her column in which he said the stakes of the election were democracy and “decency.”

But then Marcus’ screen froze, and further technical issues derailed the show from then on.

A Washington Post spokesperson did not respond to a question about Hewitt’s departure, but said: “As the newsroom’s live journalism platform, ‘Washington Post Live’ is known for its dynamic conversations and thought-provoking perspectives on the world’s top issues . day, such as this morning’s ‘First Look’ program.”

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Hewitt’s departure from the Post follows the decision, at the insistence of owner Jeff Bezos, not to endorse a candidate for president this year. The Post’s abdication caused an uproar among employees and readers, leading to resignations and hundreds of thousands of canceled subscriptions.

Bezos has also reportedly called for more conservative opinion writers, so Hewitt’s departure is a blow to that goal.

Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. (Getty Images)

The Post was set to back Vice President Kamala Harris — it hasn’t backed a Republican for president since it regularly offered endorsements to the White House in 1976 — before Bezos pulled the plug, citing efforts to rebuild trust among skeptical readers towards the media.

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Hewitt was not a regular columnist for the paper and had written just seven pieces for the Post as of 2024, having written 48 pieces for it in 2023 alone.