NBC’s Chuck Todd lays into his network for hiring former RNC chief Ronna McDaniel as an analyst
NEW YORK — Former NBC News “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd on Sunday criticized his network for hiring former Republican National Committee head Ronna McDaniel as a paid contributor, saying on air that many NBC journalists are uncomfortable with the decision.
Todd spoke on “Meet the Press” after his successor as moderator, Kristen Welker, interviewed McDaniel about her role in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
“Our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation, because I don’t know what to believe,” Todd said. “I have no idea if the answer she gave to you was that she didn’t want to mess up her contract with NBC,” he said.
McDaniel “has credibility issues to deal with: Does she speak for herself or does she speak on behalf of whoever is paying for her?”
Todd said many NBC journalists are uncomfortable with the hiring because some of their professional dealings with the RNC during McDaniel’s tenure “were met with gaslighting and character assassination.”
NBC had no comment on Todd’s statement. The network announced McDaniel’s hiring on Friday, two weeks after she resigned as RNC leader, saying McDaniel would complement NBC News’ reporting with an insider perspective on national politics and the future of the Republican Party.
“NBC News has a legacy of serving its audience through reporting that reflects and explores the diverse perspectives of American voters,” Carrie Budoff Brown, NBC’s senior vice president for politics, said in a memo to employees obtained by The Associated Press. She said McDaniel would contribute her analysis “across all NBC News platforms.”
One of the network’s platforms is the cable network MSNBC, which appeals to liberal viewers. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that MSNBC President Rashida Jones told employees that the network has no plans to have McDaniel on the channel.
MSNBC declined to comment on that report on Sunday. An MSNBC executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person would not discuss internal affairs publicly, said it would be up to the individual network shows to decide whether to bring in McDaniel — not that there would be a network-wide ban.
It is not unusual for television news channels to hire politicians as analysts and commentators. One of McDaniel’s predecessors at the RNC, Michael Steele, is a contributor to MSNBC and hosts a weekend news program there. CBS News faced some backlash for hiring two former officials in the Trump administration, Reince Priebus and Mick Mulvaney, as analysts. Alyssa Farah Griffin, former White House communications director during the Trump administration, became a political commentator for CNN.
But McDaniel’s tacit approval of Trump’s false claims that the outcome of the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent makes her hiring even more sensitive given the ongoing legal and political ripples from the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the U.S. Capitol, which was a consequence of the fraud allegations.
A former Trump press secretary, Sean Spicer, reprimanded Todd on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday. “Did he ever worry about Jen Psaki joining the left-wing network? Symone Sanders?” he asked, referring to two former Biden administration officials who worked at MSNBC.
Still, McDaniel’s role in supporting Trump and some of his comments about the 2020 election, and the speed with which she transitioned to a media job after being forced out of the RNC by Trump, drew particular attention. The phrase #BoycottNBCNews was trending on X Sunday.
McDaniel’s interview on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” was booked before the announcement that she had been hired by the network.
During the interview, McDaniel acknowledged that Biden won the 2020 election “fair and square.” That was a reversal of a comment she made on CNN last summer, when she said, “I don’t think he won fairly. Not me.”
On Sunday, she said, “The reality is that Joe Biden won. He’s the president. He is the legitimate president. I have always said, and I continue to say, there were problems in 2020. I believe both can be true.”
Under questioning from Welker, McDaniel said Sunday she disagreed with Trump’s assertion that people jailed for their part in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol should be released.
“Why don’t you speak out sooner?” Welker asked.
“When you’re RNC chairman, you basically take one for the whole team, right?” McDaniel said. “Now I can be myself a little more, right? This is what I believe.”
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Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.
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David Bauder writes about media for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://twitter.com/dbauder