NBC News fires ex-RNC chair Ronna McDaniel after Rachel Maddow, ‘Morning Joe’ revolt
NBC News dropped former Republican National Committee boss Ronna McDanie🍌l a෴s a pai🌠d contributor — a humiliating turnaround after a mutiny among the network’s stars.
MSNBC prime-time headliner Rachel Maddow and the co-hosts of “Morning Joe” were among those who sparked a revolt over the decision to bring the Trump-backing politico on boaꦺrd, which was announced last Friday.
NBCU Universal Chairman Cesar Conde took “full responsibility” for the decision to hire McDaniel — and can her less than a week later — in a memo to furious staffers Tuesday evening obtained by The Post.
“After listening to the legitimate concerns of many of you, I ha🥂ve decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor,” he wrote.
“Our initial deci൩sion was made because of our deep commitment to presenting our audiences with a widely diverse set of viewpoints and experi🤡ences, particularly during these consequential times,” he added.
Despite that, Conde said he 🎐was sorry for authorizing the hire.
“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.”
McDaniel was 🌌hi♍red by NBC News editorial chief Rebecca Blumenstein.
The decision was backed by Carrie Budoff Brown, who heads political coverage at NBC News, with C𝔉onde also looped in.
McDaniel is reportedly looking to hire a lawyer, according to Puck 🔯News.
The Post has sought comment from McDaniel.
Rashida Jones, head of MSNBC, also reportedly backed the decision to hire McDaniel, but in the face of the uproar among her stable of stars she let it b🧜e known they would not be required to have McDaniel on their shows.
Maddow, the cable network’s most bankable star, ꦛand NBC News’ Chuck Todd had decried the hire, which was announced last Friday.
“Rachel and Chuck cal♏l the shots,” a source told The Post before Conde issued his memo.
A second network source said Jones was put in a difficult position and ✱had to speak out in order to kee🧜p Maddow “happy.”
“Maddow is bringing in over 3 million viewers,” the insider saiᩚꦑᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚd.
A third source called 🌺the decision to bring ♏in McDaniel “misguided.”
“They thought this would bring in more conservative viewers and give a conservative point of view,” the source said. “It is misg♎uided given that no wing of the conservative movement claims Ronna any longer! Don’t understand how no one realized that.”
The d💟ecision to hire McDaniel sparked anger due to her backing of fไormer President Donald Trump.
But last month, Trump’s campaign fired McDaniel and dozens of other RN💝C officials and replaced them with people perceived as more loyal to the presumptive GOP nominee.
The former president reportedly soured on McDaniel because she would not enthusiasticܫally endorse his claim that the 2020 election was fraudulent.
Maddow had demanded that NBC executives “reverse their decision” during Monday’s broadcast of her weekly primetime show.
“The fact that Ms. McDaniel is on the payroll🦹 at NBC News, to me that is inexplicable,” she rai🙈led
Maddow went on to bash McDaniel as “someone who hasn’t just attacked us as journalists, but someone who is part of an ongoing project to get riꦬd of our system of government.”
“You wouldn’t hire a made man like a mobster to work at a DA’s office,𝔉 right? You wouldn’t hire a pickpocket to work as a T🔴SA screener,” Maddow concluded.
Earlier Monday, Joe Scarborough and his wife, Mika Brzezinski, who co-host MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” pledged on the air that they would not invite McDaniel to their program, calling her an “anti-democracy election denier.”
McDaniel’s name is m🔥entioned in the Justice Department’s indictment of Trump related to his role in the alleged fake elector scheme.
After the 2020 election, Trump and his allies in several states allegedly sought to create a slate o🌠f fraudulent electors who would falsely claim that the ꦯ45th president had won the Electoral College votes in those states.
According to federal prosecutors, Trump and an ally, attorney John E🦹astman, sought McDaniel’s help in 𝄹furthering the alleged scheme.
The 45-page indictment♐ handed down by special counsel Jꦦack Smith found that McDaniel was misled.
Trump and Eastman “falsely represented to [McDaniel] that such electors’ votes would be used only if ongoing litigation in one of those stat꧃es changed the results in [Trump’s] favor.”
McDaniel gave an interview to “Meet the Press” moderat൩or Kristen Welker on Sunday in which she acknowledged that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election “fair and square.”
The interview was taped weeks b💦efore it was announced that McDaniel would be🌠 joining NBC News.
Welker provided an on-air disclaimer on Sunday informing viewers that she had no kno📖wledge of McDaniel’s hiring at the time she conducted the interview.
Todd, W🗹elker’s predecessor, appeared during a separate segment of “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
In the panel d🐭iscussion, Todd hit out at NBC News management for putting Welker in an a🐟wkward position.
Joy Reid and Jen Psaki of MSNBC echoed the criticisms aired by ꦫTodd, Maddow, Scarborough and Brzezinski.
