NBC anchor assails network for hiring RNC’s ex-leader
Veteran NBC anchor Chuck Todd publicly attacked the network’s leadership Sunday, questioning why NBC News hired Ronna McDaniel, the former chair of the Republican National Committee, and declaring live on air: “There’s a reason why there are a lot of journalists at NBC News uncomfortable with this.”
Todd’s comments on “Meet the Press,” the flagship political show he anchored for nine years, were an extraordinary escalation of behind-the-scenes tensions simmering within NBC News and its cable cousin, MSNBC, since the announcement Friday that McDaniel had been hired as a political analyst.
Some journalists at NBC were taken aback by the decision to hire McDaniel, citing her tenure at the RNC under former President Donald Trump, when she echoed Trump’s criticisms of the news media.
MSNBC President Rashida Jones called several prominent anchors over the weekend to assure them that they would not be forced to book McDaniel on their shows, according to a person briefed on the conversations who requested anonymity.
McDaniel appeared on “Meet the Press” in an interview Sunday that host Kristen Welker told viewers had been scheduled weeks before McDaniel joined as a paid contributor. “This will be a news interview, and I was not involved in her hiring,” Welker said.
After the interview aired, Welker was joined on the set for a live discussion panel that included Todd.
“I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation,” Todd said. “Because I don’t know what to believe. She is now a paid contributor by NBC News, so I have no idea whether any answer she gave to you was because she didn’t want to mess up her contract.”
Todd said McDaniel “has credibility issues. There’s a reason why there are a lot of journalists at NBC News uncomfortable with this, because many of our professional dealings with the RNC over the last six years have been met with gaslighting, have been met with character assassination.”
He added: “You got to ask yourself, ‘What does she bring NBC News?’ ”
She declined to comment.