According to an insider, CAA, the agency that facilitated Ronna McDaniel's contract with NBC News as a political analyst, ended their relationship with the former RNC chair on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, NBC News also reversed its highly contested decision to employ McDaniel. She is said to be considering legal action against the network following her high-profile dismissal.
The case of McDaniel is a major embarrassment for NBC News Chairman Cesar Conde, who took on the position in May 2020. A network executive informed TheWrap on Monday that McDaniel's brief employment was unanimously approved by NBC News and MSNBC leadership.
MSNBC immediately distanced itself from the decision to recruit the divisive figure, and a group of NBC journalists publicly criticized the decision. Anchors from across the network criticized the leadership for hiring McDaniel, pointing to her support of election fraud claims in 2020 with Trump.
NBC News’ Chuck Todd, who appeared on “Meet the Press” after McDaniel’s interview on Sunday’s show, kicked off the on-air criticism.
On Monday, NBC News journalist Todd expressed discomfort with the decision, stating, “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.”
MSNBC anchors followed suit on Monday, expressing their on-air concerns about the network’s decision and calling for a reversal. This included Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Nicolle Wallace, Joy Reid, Jen Psaki, Rachel Maddow, and Lawrence O’Donnell.
The outcry was so strong that NBC's sister network, MSNBC, had to reassure staff on Saturday that McDaniel would not be featured on any of its shows. After joining NBC, McDaniel played down her role in challenging the 2020 election, despite being one of those who complained about “irregularities” and voting machine errors as the party’s spokesperson. On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that these allegations were disputed by election officials and later proved false. McDaniel made unsubstantiated claims about “deceased voters” and “batches of votes that were invalidated,” including during a Fox News appearance on Nov. 10 where she stated that allowing the election results to be certified equated to theft.
Following a defamation suit, Fox News was obligated to pay Dominion Voting Systems
As the $787.5 million in the largest-ever payout and acknowledge that they had spread false information about the company. However, they were not required to retract those statements on air.
In an interview with Kristen Welker on Sunday, McDaniel affirmed that she now believes Joe Biden won the 2020 election “fair and square.” The New York Times reported McDaniel’s dismissal on Tuesday. The hiring of the former Republican National Committee chair prompted protests from NBC and MSNBC staff.
In Sunday’s interview with Kristen Welker, McDaniel said she now believes that Joe Biden won the 2020 election “fair and square.”
The New York Times first reported the news of McDaniel’s ouster on Tuesday.
