Pat Robertson steps down as host of the long-running ‘700 Club’ Christian talk show

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Pat Robertson (shown here in 2016) listens as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va. The Christian Broadcasting Network says Robertson is stepping down as host of the long-running daily television show The 700 Club.

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Robertson, who ran for president in 1988, also founded the Christian Coalition, galvanizing American evangelicals into a conservative political force.

As 700 Club host, Robertson sometimes found himself in hot water for his on-air pronouncements. In 2005, he called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town not to be surprised if disaster struck them because they voted out school board members who favored teaching «intelligent design.

But Robertson also called for ending mandatory prison sentences for marijuana possession convictions. He later said on The 700 Club that marijuana should be legalized and treated like alcohol because the government’s war on drugs had failed.

In December 2007, Robertson’s son, Gordon, succeeded him as chief executive of CBN. Robertson remained chairman of the network and continued to appear on The 700 Club.

Robertson will still appear on a monthly, interactive episode of The 700 Club and will come on the program «occasionally as news warrants, the network said.

Gordon Robertson said his father’s «legacy and the example of his prayer life will continue to lead The 700 Club in the years to come.