Ex-RNC chair Ronna McDaniel gets cold reception by new NBC colleagues

The hiring of former Republican National Committee (RNC) leader Ronna McDaniel at NBC News is not sitting well with her new colleagues.

The cast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” vowed Monday not to have the former party chair on their show, joining prominent voices expressing their displeasure with the move.

“We weren’t asked our opinion of the hiring, but if we were, we would have strongly objected to it for several reasons,” host Joe Scarborough said.

His grievances with McDaniel include her complicity in the face of former president Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Mika Brzezinski, Scarborough’s personal and professional partner, expressed her hope that NBC would “reconsider its decision.”

The network announced Friday that it would add McDaniel to its roster as a contributor. MSNBC president Rashida Jones reportedly told staffers she would not be putting McDaniel on the NBC sister station’s airwaves, according to a Wall Street Journal report. NBC claimed the 51-year-old conservative, who spent five years as the RNC chair, would provide her services to all the network’s platforms.

McDaniel made her debut on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” during an interview with newly minted moderator Kristen Welker, who assured viewers she wasn’t responsible for the hiring of that day’s guest.

During that interview, McDaniel backed away from Trump and many Republican leaders’ defense of the MAGA loyalists who violently seized the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 to stop the 2020 election from being certified.

“When you’re the RNC chair, you kind of take one for the whole team, right?” McDaniel said in defense of her actions on the RNC’s behalf.

McDaniel also acknowledged she’s well aware Biden won the election, causing Welker to ask, “Why has it taken you until now to be able to say that?”

Former “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd also joined Welker on Sunday’s show, where he credited his successor for her professionalism and blasted the network for the way it handled the hiring.

“I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation,” Todd said. “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.”

Former NBC executive Mike Sington urged his 134,000 social media followers to boycott “Meet the Press” prior to McDaniel’s interview.

It wasn’t just NBC News insider who took exception to the network’s controversial personnel decision. ABC News morning show “The View” unloaded on its network rival Monday. Panelist Sara Haines said that while she welcomes a diversity of opinion, “You cannot have election deniers being given these types of roles in major network news.”

Her cohost Sunny Hostin called NBC’s decision “despicable.”

McDaniel was replaced by Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump as the RNC chair in early March. McDaniel promised to do “everything possible to re-elect President Trump in November” during her tearful farewell speech.

NBC News hasn’t responded to request for comment.

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