Chuck Todd Sounds Alarm on Ronna McDaniel Working at NBC News

Following former Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman Ronna McDaniel's pre-recorded interview on NBC News' Meet the Press on Sunday, former host Chuck Todd sounded the alarm over her remarks and took issue with her new position as an on-air contributor with the network.

Todd, now NBC News' chief political analyst, took part in a Meet the Press panel discussing McDaniel's interview, telling host Kristen Welker his concerns regarding McDaniel's new position.

"I don't know what to believe. She is now a paid contributor by NBC News. I have no idea whether any answer she gave to you was because she didn't want to mess up her contract. She wants us to believe that she was speaking for the RNC when the RNC was paying for her," Todd said. "So, she has she has credibility issues that she still has to deal with. Is she speaking for herself or is she speaking on behalf of who's paying her?"

Context:

NBC News announced Friday that McDaniel was joining the network as an on-air contributor, following her resignation as head of the RNC earlier this month. Her departure came after she faced growing pressure from presumptive Republican 2024 presidential nominee Donald Trump to step down.

Her decision to join NBC News has also ignited criticism from conservatives, as well as from progressives, who blasted the network for hiring her.

On Sunday, Welker stated before McDaniel's interview that "in full disclosure to our viewers, this interview was scheduled weeks before it was announced that McDaniel had become a paid NBC News contributor. This will be a news interview, and I was not involved in her hiring."

What We Know:

During McDaniel's interview she indicated that she disagreed with Trump's pledge to pardon rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021, to stop the certification of Joe Biden's Electoral College victory.

"I want to be very clear, the violence that happened on January 6 is unacceptable. It doesn't represent our country, it certainly does not represent my party," McDaniel said.

She also said that she believes that Biden won the 2020 election "fair and square" after Welker pressed her on her past refusal to say that Biden was legitimately elected, running a clip from an interview she gave to Chris Wallace on CNN in July.

"He won, he is the legitimate president, fair and square. He won, it's certified, it's done. But I do think it's fair to say there were problems in 2020," McDaniel said.

However, during Sunday's panel, Todd discussed his concerns over the interview, adding that the interview brings on questions of who McDaniel is speaking for.

"If you told me we were hiring her as a technical adviser to the Republican Convention, I think that would be certainly defensible. If you told me we're talking to her but let's let's see how she does in some interviews and maybe vet her with actual journalists inside the network to see if it's a two-way, what she can bring the network. Unfortunately, this interview is always going to be looked through the prism of, who is she speaking for?" Todd said.

The conversations that led to the interview began months before McDaniel was hired as a contributor.

Newsweek has reached out to NBC News via email for comment.

Views:

Todd said on Sunday that there's a reason why McDaniel's position raises questions.

"There's a reason why there's 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. That's where you begin here. When NBC made the decision to give her NBC News' credibility, you gotta ask yourself, 'What does she bring to NBC News?' And when we make deals like this, and I've been at this company a long time, you're doing it for access, access to audience, sometimes it's access to an individual. And we can have a journalistic ethics debate about it. I'm willing to have that debate."

However, in a statement announcing McDaniel's new role, Carrie Budoff Brown, who heads NBC News' politics and elections reporting, said, "It couldn't be a more important moment to have a voice like Ronna's on the team."

Brown added that McDaniel has an "insider's perspective" on national politics.

Following McDaniel's interview, former Representative Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, took aim at McDaniel stating on X, formerly Twitter, "Ronna facilitated Trump's corrupt fake elector plot & his effort to pressure MI officials not to certify the legitimate election outcome. She spread his lies & called 1/6 'legitimate political discourse.' That's not 'taking one for the team.' It's enabling criminality & depravity."

What's Next?

McDaniel is the latest Republican to join NBC's slate of commentators. Marc Short, who previously served as chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence, and Brendan Buck, a former congressional aide, also frequent the network.

She will join NBC News colleagues in "Decision 2024" programming on the broadcast network and NBC News NOW during notable election nights and political events.

Update 3/24/24, 12:44 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and background.

Update 3/24/24, 1:06 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and background.