Former Fox News anchor Chris Wallace abruptly departed Fox News in December. Wallace finally broke his silence as to why he left Fox News to work at CNN's new streaming service.

In an interview with the New York Times – his first since leaving Fox News – Wallace claimed that the top cable TV news network was headed in a direction that is "unsustainable."

"I just no longer felt comfortable with the programming at Fox," said Wallace, who had been at the network for 18 years. "But when people start to question the truth — Who won the 2020 election? Was Jan. 6 an insurrection? — I found that unsustainable."

"Before, I found it was an environment in which I could do my job and feel good about my involvement at Fox," Wallace said. "And since November of 2020, that just became unsustainable, increasingly unsustainable as time went on."

Wallace claimed that his former employer had "changed" over the last year and a half.

"Some people might have drawn the line earlier, or at a different point," the veteran anchor said. "I think Fox has changed over the course of the last year and a half. But I can certainly understand where somebody would say, 'Gee, you were a slow learner, Chris.'"

On his final "Fox News Sunday" show on Dec. 12, 2021, Wallace told his audience, "After 18 years — this is my final Fox News Sunday. It is the last time — and I say this with real sadness — we will meet like this."

Wallace left Fox News to go to the new streaming service, CNN+, where he will host his new interview show "Who's Talking to Chris Wallace?" The upcoming sit-down interview-style program that debuts this week will feature Wallace speaking with people in a range of industries – not just politics.

"I wanted to get out of politics," Wallace told The Times. "Doing a Sunday show on the incremental change from week to week in the Build Back Better plan began to lose its attraction."

"One of the reasons that I left Fox was because I wanted to put all of that behind me. There has not been a moment when I have second-guessed myself about that decision," Wallace added.

Earlier this month, a report surfaced that said Wallace and former MSNBC anchor Brian Williams are rumored to fill Chris Cuomo's primetime CNN slot.

Chris Wallace – the son of iconic "60 Minutes" journalist Mike Wallace and stepson of "60 Minutes" creator and former CBS News president Bill Leonard – began hosting "Fox News Sunday" in 2003 after working at ABC News since 1989 where he was a senior correspondent for "Primetime Thursday" and a substitute host at "Nightline." Wallace was previously employed at NBC News from 1982 until 1989. At the age of 16, Wallace was an assistant to legendary broadcaster Walter Cronkite.