Elie Honig is a senior legal analyst for CNN and a former federal and state prosecutor. He’s also the grandson of Holocaust survivors.
His grandfather and grandmother survived the concentration camps Sachsenhausen and Bergen-Belsen, respectively.
On April 26, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Shir Ami, Honig, a 1993 graduate of Cherry Hill High School East, will discuss how their influence shaped his life and work. Shir Ami, Newtown Hadassah and the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia are hosting the event, which takes place about two weeks after Yom HaShoah.
“We are honored to welcome Elie Honig to our community because his personal story reflects so much of what we hold sacred,” said Brent Osborne, Shir Ami’s executive director, in a press release. “He speaks not only from professional experience, but from a deep sense of Jewish identity, shaped by family, history, and responsibility.”
After serving as a federal and state prosecutor for 14 years, Honig joined the CNN team in September 2018. At the news network that is often the go-to for television coverage of politics and policy, he has carved out a significant role. Honig appears on “Anderson Cooper 360,” “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer” and other prominent shows to discuss legal issues like the independence of the U.S. Department of Justice, presidential accountability and the Supreme Court.
He also has his own on-air segment and digital column, “Cross-Exam with Elie Honig,” during which he answers legal questions from viewers. Honig has built a reputation for “non-partisan analysis,” claiming to “call balls and strikes.” Though he works for a network often pilloried as a tool of the “regime” or the “left,” Honig often gets it from partisans on both sides, a role he relishes.
The legal analyst has referred to “non-partisan analysis” as a “superpower” in a cable news environment that often can’t stick to it. He has also compared himself to Fox NFL commentator Troy Aikman, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback who uses his vast experience as a 12-year NFL veteran and three-time Super Bowl champion to harshly and honestly analyze the play of quarterbacks.
“It’s enormously fun. This allows me to stay involved in the legal world … I bring my real-life experiences as a trial lawyer … I basically look at a case and tell them, ‘Here’s what’s happening and here’s how it could play out.’ It gives them an insiders’ perspective,” Honig told SJ Mag Media in an August 2019 interview.
These values — responsibility, justice and accountability — were passed down by his grandparents, according to the press release about the event. Honig was inspired by their stories, resilience and commitment to family and Jewish life.
His grandfather, Lazar Nuchem Honig, lost most of his family during the initial Nazi invasion of Poland, spent years in Sachsenhausen and ultimately escaped during combat as the Nazis tried to march the remaining prisoners westward in 1945. His grandmother, Gusta Zagorski, also lost most of her family and survived a death march into the interior of Germany before being liberated from Bergen-Belsen.
Both grandparents ended up as refugees in Sweden, where they met and married. They immigrated to the United States in 1949, ultimately settling in New Jersey.
“I think I value accountability … [out of] a sense of fairness, a sense that you shouldn’t be able to get away with stuff. … [It] bothers everybody, but I always sort of sought out the chance to do something about those scenarios. That’s what really motivated me,” Honig told the podcast “That ONE Lawyer” in a March 2024 interview.
In addition to Honig’s talk, the April 26 event at Shir Ami will also feature brunch, local craft vendors and raffles.