Chuck Todd expressed his strong disapproval of NBC’s decision to hire former RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, immediately following her appearance on “Meet the Press.” During a conversation with NBC host Kristen Welker, Todd emphasized the need for NBC to issue an apology for allowing McDaniel to be interviewed. He further highlighted that numerous journalists within the network felt uneasy about her role as a paid contributor.

“Let me deal with the elephant in the room,” Todd began. “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,” Todd told Welker. “I have no idea whether any answer she gave to you was because she didn’t want to mess up her contract.”

“She wants us to believe that she was speaking for the RNC when the RNC was paying for it. 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? Once at the RNC, she did say that. ‘Hey, I’m speaking for the party.’ I get that, that’s part of the job. So, what about here?” he asked.

Todd commended Welker for effectively highlighting McDaniel’s contradictions during the interview, stating that she did an excellent job. He also mentioned that there were concerns among several NBC News employees regarding the network’s decision to hire the former Republican National Committee chairwoman.

“Look, there’s a reason why there are a lot of journalists at NBC News uncomfortable with this,” Todd said. “Because many of our professional dealings with the RNC over the last six years have been met with gaslighting and have been met with character assassination.”

“When NBC made the decision to give her NBC News’ credibility, you got to ask yourself, what does she bring NBC News? And when we make deals like this, and I’ve been at this company a long time, you’re doing it for access. Access to audience. Sometimes it’s access to an individual. And we can have a journalistic ethics debate about that. And I’m willing to have that debate,” Todd added.

Glenn Greenwald, a journalist, highlighted the lack of “melodrama” when Democratic “operatives” are recruited by prominent networks such as ABC and NBC. He referenced Jen Psaki, the former White House Press Secretary, who secured a deal with MSNBC prior to departing from the Biden administration. Greenwald also brought up George Stephanopoulos from ABC, who was brought on board with “no journalism experience” right after his tenure under President Bill Clinton.

In addition, NBC enlisted John Brennan as a contributor in 2018 following his role as CIA chief during the Obama administration.