Former “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd criticized NBC mid-show Sunday after the network hired Ronna McDaniel, former chair of the Republican National Committee, as a political analyst.
Joining a discussion panel on the show he hosted for nearly a decade, Todd said he and others were upset by the hire, accusing McDaniel of having “credibility issues.”
“There’s a reason why there are 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,” Todd said Sunday.
“So when NBC made the decision to give her NBC News’s credibility, you got to ask yourself, ‘What does she bring NBC News?’” he added.
Earlier in the broadcast, McDaniel appeared as a guest on “Meet the Press” in a one-on-one interview with current host Kristen Welker. Welker began by noting that McDaniel’s appearance was scheduled weeks ahead of her joining the network.
“This will be a news interview, and I was not involved in her hiring,” Welker said.
McDaniel answered Welker’s questions on Jan. 6, 2021, her fractures with former President Donald Trump and her continued, unfounded claims about fraud in the 2020 election. McDaniel has long alleged without evidence that there were issues with the 2020 race for the White House, which President Joe Biden won.
Kristen Welker, who spent 11 years as NBC’s White House correspondent, replaces Chuck Todd as moderator of “Meet the Press.”
Todd was quick to address what he called “the elephant in the room” later in the show.
“I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation,” Todd said to Welker. “Because I don’t know what to believe. She is now a paid contributor by NBC News, so I have no idea whether any answer she gave to you was because she didn’t want to mess up her contract.”
News outlets have previously hired administration officials and political party leaders, though critics in recent days took particular aim at McDaniel’s comments about the 2020 election.
NBC News declined USA TODAY’s request for comment on Sunday.
“It couldn’t be a more important moment to have a voice like Ronna’s on the team,” Carrie Budoff Brown, senior vice president of NBC’s political coverage, said in a memo shared with the New York Times on Friday.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chuck Todd bashes NBC for hiring former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel