By Madison Anidjar
Staff Writer
NBC announced the hiring of former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel on March 22, but by the end of the week, the network had parted ways with her.
McDaniel made her first paid NBC appearance as a guest on “Meet the Press.” Host Kristen Welker questioned McDaniel about her departure from the RNC, her thoughts about voting for Trump and her previous statements and actions questioning the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election.
After some back and forth, McDaniel said that she believed Joe Biden won the election “fair and square,” with the caveat that there were major problems, including the “integrity” of mail in ballots.
Following McDaniel’s appearance, former “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd told Welker on air that their bosses “owed her an apology” for placing her in the position of interviewing McDaniel.
“She has credibility issues that she still has to deal with. Is she speaking for herself, or is she speaking on behalf of who is paying her?” said Todd.
NBC’s decision to hire McDaniel quickly received backlash from other longtime NBC and MSNBC journalists.
Hosts Nicolle Wallace and Rachel Maddow expressed deep concerns about what message NBC sends by hiring Mcdaniel.
“NBC News, either wittingly or unwittingly, is teaching election deniers that what they can do stretches well beyond appearing on our air and interviews to peddle lies about the sanctity and integrity of our elections,” said Nicolle Wallace, host of “Deadline: White House.”
Rachel Maddow spent more than ten minutes of her show criticizing McDaniel’s role in Trump’s fake electors scheme, including McDaniel repeatedly instructing Michigan state officials not to certify the results of the election.
“As long as you can keep up the anti-election mythology, then you are priming your people, you're priming the American public, to not accept the results of the next election,” said Maddow.
MSNBC hosts like Lawrence O'Donnell, Joe Scarburough and Mika Brezezinski made it clear that McDaniel would not be welcome on their shows.
“I stopped inviting Trump liars like her on this program in 2016,” O’Donnell told his audience on “The Last Word.”
“We believe NBC News should seek out conservative republican voices to provide balance in their election coverage, but it should be conservative republicans, not a person who used her position of power to be an anti-democracy election denier, and we hope NBC will reconsider its decision,” said Brzezinski on “Morning Joe.”
Scarborough and Brezezinski said they learned of McDaniel’s hire from the press.
Internally, a staff memo announced the decision to hire McDaniel and asked employees to welcome her to the network.
“It couldn’t be a more important moment to have a voice like Ronna’s on the team,” wrote Politics Senior Vice President Carrie Budoff Brown. “As we gear up for the longest general election season in recent memory, she will support our leading coverage by providing an insider’s perspective on national politics and on the future of the Republican Party.”
The decision to hire McDaniel was unanimous among NBC executives, including Budoff Brown, Editorial President Rebecca Blumenstein and MSNBC President Rashida Jones.
Another former RNC chair turned news contributor, Reince Priebus, told ABC’s “This Week” about the unusual process through which McDaniel was hired. Priebus relayed that, in his experience, landing a job as a contributor included meeting with management, interviewing and getting acquainted with future coworkers and materials.
“The root of the problem is that the management never brought her in before the contract was signed so that all of this stuff could get worked out. And that was a huge failure, in my opinion,” said Priebus.
After days of backlash, NBC Executive Cesar Conde wrote a note to news staffers apologizing and announcing that the decision to hire McDaniel had been reversed.
“No organization, particularly a newsroom, can succeed unless it is cohesive and aligned. Over the last few days, it has become clear that this appointment undermines that goal,” wrote Cesar.
McDaniel could still receive the whole of her $600,000 contract. So far, she has not made any public statements since NBC’s decision. However, according to a source that spoke with Politico, McDaniel has met with a lawyer to discuss her options.
