NBC News has decided to remove Ronna McDaniel McDaniel's contributor role at NBC News has been revoked.Rachel Maddow and other MSNBC hosts criticized Ronna McDaniel for using her position at the RNC to support Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of fraud in the 2020 elections.
Maddow stated that it was incomprehensible for Ms. McDaniel to be employed by NBC News. Maddow informed viewers on Monday nightThis decision was compared to hiring a criminal to work for a district attorney.
Cesar Conde, the Chairman of NBCUniversal News Group, communicated to NBC News staff that Ronna McDaniel will no longer be a contributor following concerns from many. He emphasized the importance of unity and alignment within the newsroom for success.
Last week, NBC News had announced that McDaniel would be appearing across NBC News platforms, but this was met with strong disapproval from several MSNBC hosts, including Maddow, Jen Psaki, Nicolle Wallace, Joy Reid, Lawrence O’Donnell, Joe Scarborough, and Mika Brzezinski.
Scarborough and Brzezinski assured their audience that McDaniel would never be on their show. Wallace expressed that McDaniel’s employment at NBC indicated to election deniers that they could promote their views as a paid contributor on the network. The Associated Press reported that.
Conde confirmed that he made the decision to hire McDaniel and took full responsibility for it.
Conde explained that the initial decision was based on the commitment to presenting diverse viewpoints, and reiterated the importance of seeking diverse perspectives for their programs in the future.
During her time as the RNC chair, McDaniel echoed Trump’s unfounded claims about the 2020 election. Trump baselessly alleged a widespread voter fraud conspiracy, which, in reality, was rejected over 60 times by courts across the country. This conspiracy was purported to have occurred solely in the states Trump lost.The Trump campaign's claims were consistently dismissed for lack of evidence in court, including by judges appointed by Trump.
In November 2021, McDaniel apologized to the RNC’s members in an email, affirming that the party did not actually intend to support LGBTQ+ equality despite outreach efforts to secure LGBTQ voters' support.