NBC considering cutting ties with Ronna McDaniel after intense backlash: Insider

There's active consideration at NBC News to cut ties with Ronna McDaniel after the brutal reception her hiring as an analyst has gotten, a network insider tells Fox News Digital.

The former Republican National Committee chairwoman was signed as a paid contributor last week, leading to an immediate uproar among current and former NBC staffers, as well as media critics who considered the longtime Donald Trump ally unacceptable for the news organization.  

An MSNBC insider told Fox News Digital that the pushback against McDaniel's hiring was worse than leadership anticipated, and not just from within NBC, and due to that there was discussion about cutting her. Spokespersons for NBC News and MSNBC didn't respond to a request for comment, and McDaniel remains with the network as of Monday.

The source added they'd be glad to see NBC cut McDaniel, saying she has long operated in bad faith, had credibility issues and has engaged in election denial, alluding to her role in helping President Trump's efforts to overturn 2020 election results and rhetoric about that election being unfair.

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MSNBC President Rashida Jones already told colleagues over the weekend that McDaniel wouldn't appear on their airwaves. MSNBC is NBC's left-leaning cable news arm, and insiders there told Fox News Digital she wouldn't be welcome on their programs.

Another source at NBC News said they were "totally blindsided" by McDaniel being added to the team. 

"I haven't spoken to a single person who thinks it's a good idea," they told Fox News Digital.

Another MSNBC insider also supported NBC dropping her entirely, suggesting she be replaced by a former Trump official who wasn't involved in the "Jan. 6 scheme."

A separate NBC source told Fox News Digital they were not aware of discussions about possibly dropping McDaniel.

The furor over McDaniel's hiring isn't playing out just behind the scenes. On flagship programs "Meet the Press" and MSNBC's "Morning Joe," prominent hosts vented about McDaniel on the air, and Mika Brzezinski requested NBC reconsider her contract.

McDaniel made her first appearance since her hiring on "Meet the Press" Sunday, in what had originally been booked as her first interview since resigning as RNC chair.

But it turned into an awkward bit of television, as host Kristen Welker explained to viewers ahead of time that she was uninvolved with McDaniel's hiring, and it would be a typical news interview. She proceeded to sharply interrogate her new colleague over her tumultuous RNC tenure, involvement with efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and whether she was even trustworthy.

Afterward, panelist and former show host Chuck Todd fumed that Welker was placed in an impossible situation by having to conduct a harsh interview with a paid colleague.

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"I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation, because I don't know what to believe," Todd said.

"This is a Washington operative who I don't think is going to bring the network what they think it wants to bring to the network. I understand the motivation, but this execution, I think, was poor," he added.

On Monday's "Morning Joe," Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough made their displeasure clear as well. The show even played clips of McDaniel's election comments, which included once saying President Biden had not won the 2020 election fairly.

"To be clear, we believe NBC News should seek out conservative Republican voices to provide balance in their election coverage," Brzezinski said. "But it should be conservative Republicans. Not a person who used her position of power to be an anti-democracy election denier, and we hope NBC will reconsider its decision. It goes without saying that she will not be a guest on ‘Morning Joe’ in her capacity as a paid contributor."

The pressure campaign could continue Monday night, as there is internal discussion of some primetime MSNBC programs also addressing McDaniel on the air, Fox News Digital has learned. 

During the interview with Welker, McDaniel backtracked slightly on past claims that the 2020 election was unfair. She also acknowledged pulling her punches on remarks by former President Trump when she was still RNC chair, contradicting his statements about freeing Jan. 6 rioters.

"When you're the RNC chair, you kind of take one for the whole team, right? Now I get to be a little bit more myself, right? This is what I believe," McDaniel said.

McDaniel was signed for $300,000 a year, according to Puck News, a figure that could foster resentment over a Trump acolyte earning that kind of money, one former high-level NBC staffer told Fox News Digital.

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NBC News political chief Carrie Budoff Brown touted McDaniel's signing last week in a memo to staffers, upsetting many inside the network. 

"It couldn’t be a more important moment to have a voice like Ronna’s on the team," Brown wrote. "As we gear up for the longest general election season in recent memory, she will support our leading coverage by providing an insider’s perspective on national politics and on the future of the Republican Party—which she led through some of the most turbulent and challenging moments in political history."

The backlash began immediately. Former MSNBC analyst Steve Schmidt called it a "disgusting and cynical decision" and McDaniel herself a "wretched and lying woman."

"I spent 10 years as an analyst at MSNBC. Today, I’m ashamed of that for the first time. Disgusting," he wrote on X.

Ex-MSNBC host Keith Olbermann called McDaniel an "utterly dishonest fascist" as he also castigated the decision. MSNBC columnist Marisa Kabas posted on Blue Sky an email she sent to NBC expressing her disappointment with McDaniel's hiring, calling it "appalling." Another columnist, Andrea Grimes, supported the letter and added "F--- this."

Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison blasted NBC in a statement, calling McDaniel a "proven liar."

"The free and independent press is fundamental to our democracy, and has and continues to face unprecedented attacks by Donald Trump and his lackeys, including Ronna McDaniel, to chip away at its credibility and allow space for MAGA lies and deceit," he said. 

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"There should be no debate about the truth in our political discourse. Ronna McDaniel is a proven liar, and has no place in an honest and objective conversation about the future of this country."

On Monday, the NBC News Guild also got in on the action, saying NBC had prioritized hiring an "election denier" after laying off 13 union journalists. It linked to a petition and urged NBC News to "reconsider Ronna and reinstate our reporters."

McDaniel didn't return a request for comment.

Fox News' Brian Flood and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.