MSNBC co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski rip bosses over Ronna McDaniel hire, say she won’t be invited to ‘Morning Joe’
Ronna McDaniel won’t be invited for some “morning Joe” anytime soon.
MSNBC morning stars Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski blasted their employers on Monday for hiring “anti-democracy election denier” Ronna McDaniel, the former head of the Republican National Committee, as a paid contributor to NBC News.
“We hope NBC will reconsider its decision” to hire McDaniel, said Brzezinski, who co-hosts the four-hour morning show with her husband, former Congressman Scarborough (R-Fla.).
Brzezinski said the pair will not invite McDaniel on to their air in protest. Her hiring has caused an uproar at NBC News.
McDaniel, who was among dozens of RNC staffers let go by the Trump campaign after the former president soured on her for not sufficiently supporting his claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, could not be reached for comment by The Post.
Scarborough said management never asked him or his wife about whether McDaniel should be hired and that they learned of the news through media reports.
“We weren’t asked our opinion of the hiring, but if we were, we would have strongly objected to it for several reasons,” Scarborough said.
The “Morning Joe” co-host cited “Ms. McDaniel’s role in Donald Trump’s fake elector scheme and her pressuring election officials to not certify election results while Donald Trump was on the phone.”
After the 2020 election, Trump and his allies in several states allegedly sought to create a slate of fraudulent electors who would falsely claim that the 45th president had won the Electoral College votes in those states.
A House committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters ransacked the US Capitol in an effort to disrupt the certification of former Vice President Joe Biden’s victory, said it produced evidence showing that Trump and a lawyer, John Eastman, called McDaniel “to talk about the importance of the RNC helping the campaign gather these contingent electors.”
Last year, the Department of Justice indicted Trump, accusing him and his allies for masterminding the fake elector scheme.
The 45-page indictment handed down by special counsel Jack Smith found that McDaniel was misled on the alleged phony elector scheme.
Trump and Eastman “falsely represented to [McDaniel] that such electors’ votes would be used only if ongoing litigation in one of those states changed the results in [Trump’s] favor.”
Brzezinski said NBC News should hire conservative Republicans.
“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,” she said.
“It goes without saying that she will not be a guest on ‘Morning Joe’ in her capacity as a paid contributor,” Brzezinski added.
MSNBC president Rashida Jones told her charges that the left-leaning cable network has no plans to use McDaniel as an on-air contributor, according to the Wall Street Journal.
But Politico reported that Jones was among several top-level executives who signed off on the network’s deal with McDaniel.
The Post has sought comment from NBC News.
A source close to McDaniel told The Post that the former RNC head “has a unique perspective on American politics” and that it is “sorely missing from a lot of television media.”
“NBC News recognized the need for her voice and her views on the issues that matter to every voter and will decide this election,” the source said.
The “Morning Joe” co-hosts echoed former “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd, who grew emotional on Sunday when he criticized his bosses at the Comcast-owned company for what he perceived as a move that put his successor, Kristen Welker, in an awkward spot.
“I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation,” Todd told Welker on the air on Sunday after her interview with McDaniel.
“There’s a reason why there’s 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.”
Welker sat down with McDaniel on “Meet the Press” in an interview that was taped before the ex-RNC chair was hired by the network.
