Inside NBC as hosts, X and DNC all slam network for hiring ex-RNC chair Ronna McDaniel

The hiring of the recently departed RNC chair Ronna McDaniel as an NBC News on-air contributor is being widely panned as a terrible move by the network – including by its own employees live on air.

Ms McDaniel appeared on Meet the Press on Sunday. Moments later on the programme, the network’s Chief Political Analyst Chuck Todd, the former host of the show, told his successor Kristen Welker: “Let me deal with the elephant in the room.I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in [this] situation.”

“Because I don't know what to believe. She is now a paid contributor by NBC News. I have no idea whether any answer she gave to you was because she didn't want to mess up her contract,” he added. “She wants us to believe that she was speaking for the RNC when the RNC was paying… So she has credibility issues that she still has to deal with. Is she speaking for herself? Or is she speaking on behalf of who's paying her?

“There's a reason why there [are] a lot of journalists [at] NBC News [who are] 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,” he added.

The ground was broken for Ms McDaniel’s NBC hiring last year when she was approached by NBC executives who wanted a Republican primary debate on their network. Ms McDaniel had the requirement that MSNBC, the cable news channel that former President Donald Trump claims is part of the Democratic machine, would not be allowed to broadcast the debate at the same time, a requirement that NBC bosses accepted, according to Politico.

Ronna McDaniel’s hiring has been criticised on air by prominent figures at NBC and MSNBC

During this process, Ms