Former Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel’s time as a paid NBC contributor has come to an end, according to several news reports, after the network received public pushback from top NBC and MSNBC personalities over the network’s decision to bring her aboard.
NBC’s Cesar Conde reportedly told staff in an email on Tuesday afternoon that the network had walked back its decision.
“I want to personally apologize to our team members who felt we let them down,” Cesar wrote. “While this was a collective recommendation… I approved it and take full responsibility for it.”
“No organization, particularly a newsroom, can succeed unless it is cohesive and aligned,” he wrote, adding that it had become clear that McDaniel’s appointment “undermines that goal.”
McDaniel, who reportedly learned about her termination in the media, is said to be looking at her “legal options.”
National Review has reached out to NBC for comment.
McDaniel’s position with NBC was first reported on Friday by The New York Times, soon after her resignation from the RNC. The Times story said McDaniel would also be featured on MSNBC, but MSNBC president Rashida Jones told network staff she would not be appearing on the network, according to Semafor.
NBC’s Meet the Press aired an interview with McDaniel on Sunday taped before she became a paid contributor, host Kristen Welker said. McDaniel split from former president Donald Trump on the issue of releasing the individuals imprisoned for participating in the January 6th Capitol riot.
“I do not think people who committed violent acts on Jan. 6 should be free,” McDaniel told Welker. She also admitted she was able to be “a little bit more myself” because she is no longer running the GOP. Trump is making the January 6th “hostages” a central focus of his presidential campaign.
When McDaniel ran the RNC, she was a staunch Trump ally and entertained his false claims surrounding the 2020 presidential election. McDaniel admitted President Joe Biden defeated Trump in 2020.
NBC News political commentator Chuck Todd, Welker’s predecessor, criticized network executives on Meet the Press for hiring McDaniel and putting Welker in a bind.
“I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation because I don’t know what to believe,” Todd said. “She wants us to believe that she was speaking for the RNC when the RNC was paying for it. So she has credibility issues that she still has to deal with.”
Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, and primetime hosts Joy Reid and Rachel Maddow joined the pile on, criticizing executives for giving air time to someone who refused to publicly correct Trump’s lies about the 2020 election.
“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,” Brzezinski said on Monday’s edition of Morning Joe.
Democratic National Committee chair Jamie Harrison also voiced displeasure with NBC for hiring McDaniel, his onetime rival. Former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki and Kamala Harris communications staffer Symone Sanders are among the party operatives at the network.