Ex-‘Meet the Press’ host blasts network over RNC hire

Veteran NBC anchor Chuck Todd publicly attacked the leadership of his own network Sunday, questioning why NBC News hired Ronna McDaniel, the former chairwoman 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 hosted 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 regularly echoed Trump’s criticisms of the media and, in particular, the left-leaning programs on MSNBC.

Rashida Jones, the MSNBC president, called several prominent anchors over the weekend to assure them they would not be forced to book McDaniel on their shows, according to two people briefed on the conversations who requested anonymity to share details meant to be private.

McDaniel made her NBC debut Sunday on Meet the Press in an appearance the current host, Kristen Welker, told viewers had been scheduled weeks before McDaniel joined. “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, who began his remarks by saying, “Let me deal with the elephant in the room.”

Todd said McDaniel “has credibility issues” and went on, “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.”