Former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel, who has stirred controversy after being hired as an on-air contributor for NBC News, won’t be appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” anytime soon.
Co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski made their disapproval of the hiring very clear on Monday morning, following McDaniel’s appearance on Sunday’s “Meet the Press.”
“I know you won’t be surprised to know that we’ve been inundated with calls this weekend, as have most people connected with this network about NBC’s decision to hire her,” Scarborough said.
The anchor noted that they were informed of McDaniel’s hiring after reading about it in the media on Friday.
“We weren’t asked our opinion of the hiring, but if we were, we would have strongly objected to it for several reasons including, but not limited to, as lawyers might say, Miss McDaniel’s role in Donald Trump’s fake elector scheme and her pressuring election officials to not certify election results while Donald Trump was on the phone,” Scarborough added.
Brzezinski noted that they don’t disagree with NBC seeking out conservative voices to balance political coverage, “But it should be conservative Republicans, not a person who used her position of power to be an anti-democracy election denier.”
“We hope NBC will reconsider its decision,” Brzezinski said. “It goes without saying that she will not be a guest on Morning Joe in her capacity as a paid contributor.”
Then “Morning Joe” played a collection of clips of McDaniel from her “Meet the Press” appearance where she continued to assert that there were “problems” with the 2020 presidential election.
NBC News has seen a wave of backlash against the hiring of McDaniel, with MSNBC already clearly distancing themselves from the contributor. MSNBC president Rashida Jones told employees that the network has no plans to use McDaniel as an on-air contributor.
Staffers have been speaking out against the hiring, including NBC’s Chuck Todd who appeared on a panel after McDaniel’s “Meet the Press” interview and slammed the network on-air.
“I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation,” Todd told “Meet the Press” anchor Kristen Welker.
“Look, there’s a reason why there’s a lot of journalists at NBC News uncomfortable with this,” Todd said. “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.”
