When NBC News recruited a Republican Party leader who has criticized the news media and backed Donald Trump's attempts to change the 2020 presidential election results as a political commentator, reactions from both within and outside the network were swift. In her first NBC visit on the popular Meet the Press on Sunday, Ronna McDaniel was live-addressed with such complaints, according to the Wall Street Journal. Former presenter Chuck Todd said, "There is a reason why there is a lot of journalists at NBC News uncomfortable with this," after McDaniel's departure.
Moderator Kristen Welker announced to the crowd that McDaniel will be doing a news interview. Todd added that McDaniel had resisted NBC interviews for years while serving as the head of the Republican National Committee. McDaniel told Welker she disagreed with Trump's allegation of fraud when she was pressed on the 2020 election, which she has always said was rigged, according to the Washington Post. "You sort of take one for the team when you are the RNC chair, right? I get to be myself a little bit more now," McDaniel said. Biden, she said, emerged victorious and is now "the legitimate president."
The panel remained unmoved. "I have no idea whether any answer she gave to you was because she did not want to mess up her contract," Todd said to Welker. As RNC head, McDaniel "habitually lied," according to Boston Globe writer Kimberly Atkins Stohr, which "shot her credibility." Following her admission on Sunday that Trump had forced her out of her position at the RNC, McDaniel stated in announcing her hiring that she would be appearing on "all NBC News platforms." This infuriated MSNBC employees, and the cable network's management spent the weekend phoning anchors to reassure them that McDaniel would not be appearing on any of their programs. In addition, MSNBC came under fire for bringing on Jen Psaki, the former press secretary for Biden.
Moderator Kristen Welker announced to the crowd that McDaniel will be doing a news interview. Todd added that McDaniel had resisted NBC interviews for years while serving as the head of the Republican National Committee. McDaniel told Welker she disagreed with Trump's allegation of fraud when she was pressed on the 2020 election, which she has always said was rigged, according to the Washington Post. "You sort of take one for the team when you are the RNC chair, right? I get to be myself a little bit more now," McDaniel said. Biden, she said, emerged victorious and is now "the legitimate president."
The panel remained unmoved. "I have no idea whether any answer she gave to you was because she did not want to mess up her contract," Todd said to Welker. As RNC head, McDaniel "habitually lied," according to Boston Globe writer Kimberly Atkins Stohr, which "shot her credibility." Following her admission on Sunday that Trump had forced her out of her position at the RNC, McDaniel stated in announcing her hiring that she would be appearing on "all NBC News platforms." This infuriated MSNBC employees, and the cable network's management spent the weekend phoning anchors to reassure them that McDaniel would not be appearing on any of their programs. In addition, MSNBC came under fire for bringing on Jen Psaki, the former press secretary for Biden.
