Evan Perez is a CNN Senior Justice Correspondent based in the Washington, D.C. Bureau, reporting on legal, crime, and national security issues.

Perez previously principally covered the Russia investigation, helping to lead the team that covered the Department of Justice. Perez, along with CNN colleagues Jake Tapper, Carl Bernstein and Jim Sciutto, was awarded the White House Correspondents’ Association’s Merriman Smith Award in the broadcast category for their January 2017 report on how the intelligence community believed Russia had compromising information on then President-elect Trump.

When prosecutors filed criminal charges against the U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, and the first charges against the leader of the attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, Perez delivered the news first on CNN.

Before joining CNN, Perez led Justice coverage at the Wall Street Journal, helping to break news on the complaint that sparked the federal investigation of former CIA Director David Petraeus, and the subsequent removal of an FBI agent in the case. In a dozen years at WSJ, he covered business beats on real estate, airlines, cruise lines, as well as Hurricane Katrina.

Perez began his career in Miami reporter as a reporter for the Associated Press. He was born in Belize City, Belize and studied journalism at the University of South Florida, Tampa.