NBC News recently terminated former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel’s contract as a paid contributor shortly after her appointment was made public. This decision followed objections from journalists at NBC and MSNBC during her on-air appearances.
The announcement of her dismissal was communicated to the staff via an email from Cesar Conde, the chairman of NBCUniversal Group.
“There is no doubt that the last several days have been difficult for the News Group. After listening to the legitimate concerns of many of you, I have decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor,” Conde said.
“I want to personally apologize to our team members who felt we let them down. While this was a collective recommendation by some members of our leadership team, I approved it and take full responsibility for it,” Conde wrote.
The network revealed McDaniel’s appointment on Friday, just a fortnight after her departure as RNC chair.
Network figures such as Joe Scarborough, former White House press secretary Jen Psaki, Nicolle Wallace, and Rachel Maddow utilized their on-air platforms to express discontent with management’s choice to bring on McDaniel and advocated for the network to reassess its decision.
Puck News was the initial source to disclose NBC News’s intention to terminate McDaniel’s contributor position.
Wallace voiced on air that NBC’s hiring of McDaniel conveyed to 2020 election skeptics “not only that they can express such views on our platforms but also that they can do so as part of our team, officially representing NBC News as a paid contributor on our esteemed platforms.” This sentiment was echoed by other NBC personnel.
“The fact that Ms. McDaniel is on the payroll at NBC News, to me, that is inexplicable,” Maddow said on her show Monday. “And I hope they will reverse their decision.”
Maddow said MSNBC staff “expressed outrage” after McDaniel’s hiring was announced and that the network’s executives heard, understood and “adjusted course.”
McDaniel staunchly defended former President Donald Trump’s endeavors to contest the outcome of the 2020 election and supported a November 2020 conversation where she and Trump purportedly urged GOP canvassers in Michigan against endorsing the state’s certification of the presidential election.
Assuming the role of RNC leader in 2017, coinciding with Trump’s inauguration, McDaniel stepped down to allow Trump’s chosen team to assume control of the RNC, solidifying his position as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Michael Whatley, an advocate of Trump’s unsubstantiated voter fraud claims, was elected national chairman, while Lara Trump, Trump’s daughter-in-law, was appointed co-chair.
Although once personally selected by Trump, McDaniel’s standing among Trump’s associates dwindled as she was held responsible for GOP defeats in recent elections.
Subsequent to the installation of new leadership at the RNC, layoffs ensued. Over 60 staffers were dismissed as the organization endeavors to streamline operations and “eliminate redundancies” between the campaign and the RNC, as relayed by a senior Trump campaign official to CBS News earlier this month.