Following criticism from some of its finest talent, NBC News is dropping former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel as a contributor, according to a network letter sent Tuesday.
“No doubt, the previous few days have been difficult for the News Group. “After listening to many of your legitimate concerns, I have decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor,” wrote Cesar Conde, head of NBCU News Group.
Two new leaders, including the daughter-in-law of former President Donald Trump, succeeded McDaniel after his resignation from the RNC last month.
In an appearance on Sunday with “Meet the Press,” she defended her tenure with the party, as well as her thoughts on the 2020 election, Jan. 6, and other issues.
In that appearance, McDaniel stated that she was sharing more of her opinions because she was no longer in charge of the party.
McDaniel, who Trump hand-picked to lead the party in late 2016, said, “When you’re the RNC chair, you kind of take one for the whole team.”
“Now,” McDaniel told NBC, “I get to be a little bit more myself.”
Among other things, McDaniel was asked on “Meet the Press” about her previous comments questioning, without evidence, if President Joe Biden had truly won the 2020 election—why she separated from Trump over his support for some of those convicted in the Jan. 6 incidents.
She also defended a phone call that allegedly caught her and Trump asking GOP canvassers in Michigan not to sign a certification of the 2020 election results that showed Biden had won.
She stated there had been public backlash against the canvassers as they considered what to do and that, despite what the audio allegedly revealed, she advised them to “vote your conscience” but was not “pushing them to do anything.”
While moderator Kristen Welker stated that McDaniel was scheduled to come on Sunday for a news interview, this was overshadowed by NBC’s separate announcement that she would be hired as an analyst.
In a message sent Friday confirming McDaniel’s arrival at NBC, CEO Carrie Budoff Brown commended her as an illuminating voice in an “important moment.”
“As chair of the Republican National Committee, she spent nearly eight years at the highest levels of American politics… [S]he will support our leading coverage by providing an insider’s perspective on national politics and on the future of the Republican Party—wwhich she led through some of the most turbulent and challenging moments in political history,” she wrote in part.
However, by Sunday’s “Meet the Press” interview, McDaniel’s relationship with Trump and previous comments on the 2020 election were under fire, including from Chuck Todd, who raised “credibility issues,” as well as from MSNBC “Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, Rachel Maddow, and others.
“I mean, you wouldn’t hire a wiseguy; you wouldn’t hire a made man like a mobster to work at a DA’s office, right?” Maddow said this on the air on Monday.
Another MSNBC anchor, Ari Melber, remarked on McDaniel’s departure from the network on Tuesday, as well as the larger internal debate.
“If you watch MSNBC, as you probably do if you’re listening to me right now, or if you follow news media and politics, this has been a roiling debate since that initial announcement was made on Friday,” Melber said on his show of the same name.
Conde, the chairman of NBCU News Group, also addressed the response.
“No organization, especially a newsroom, can thrive unless it is coherent and coordinated.” Over the last few days, it has become clear that this appointment undermines that goal,” he said in a memo on Tuesday.
He said, “Our deep commitment to presenting our audiences with a widely diverse set of viewpoints and experiences, particularly during these consequential times, led us to make our initial decision.” “We continue to be committed to the principle that we must have diverse viewpoints on our programs, and to that end, we will redouble our efforts to seek voices that represent different parts of the political spectrum.”
ABC News has been unable to reach McDaniel for comment.
Former President Donald Trump reacted to McDaniel’s departure as an NBC News contributor by criticizing her on his social media platform, Truth Social, stating she “only lasted two days.”
“She only lasted two days, and this after McDaniel went out of her way to say what they wanted to hear,” Trump said in a tweet.
“It leaves her in a very strange place,” Trump continued.
