Lawrence O'Donnell Invites Ronna McDaniel On His Show To Answer A Few Blunt Questions

Josephine Harvey
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MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell said he gave up on interviewing “Trump liars” like Ronna McDaniel years ago, but he’s got some questions he’d like to ask her.

The “Last Word” host excoriated the former Republican National Committee chair on Monday in the wake of NBC News’ controversial decision to hire her as a contributor. The move prompted uproar among journalists at NBC News and sister network MSNBC, many of whom have slammed the decision on air, pointing to her role in spreading former President Donald Trump’s dangerous lies.

“She was not hired by MSNBC,” O’Donnell said. “I stopped inviting Trump liars like her on this program in 2016, because I’ve never seen a satisfying, successful interview of a Trump liar and have never thought that I alone could crack the code of how to interview a Trump liar. They are fast and furious liars, and I doubt that I could keep up.”

NBC News faced backlash after hiring Ronna McDaniel, who stepped down from her post at the RNC earlier this month. She was replaced by two candidates handpicked by Donald Trump.
NBC News faced backlash after hiring Ronna McDaniel, who stepped down from her post at the RNC earlier this month. She was replaced by two candidates handpicked by Donald Trump. David McNew via Getty Images

O’Donnell said he would never interview McDaniel as an expert on Republican campaigns.

“MSNBC will not use Ronna McDaniel as a political analyst, but I do have a few questions for her whenever she might want to come on this program,” he said. “And I’ll make it easy for her. I’ll tell her the questions ahead of time.”

“My first question would be: Why did you change your name for Donald Trump?” he continued.

McDaniel used to go by Ronna Romney McDaniel. Trump reportedly asked her to stop using her middle name publicly in 2017 before she stepped into her RNC role, amid a deepening feud with Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who had been a critic of Trump’s presidential campaign.

Romney is McDaniel’s uncle.

“How does that feel? To change your name to curry favor with a madman because he doesn’t like your uncle. How did you explain that to your kids?” O’Donnell asked.

He said he would also ask her about “everything she did to try to help Donald Trump overthrow the election that she yesterday decided to say for the very first time, four years late, that Joe Biden won fair and square.”

According to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, MSNBC leadership initially raised no objections to hiring McDaniel, but changed course after staff voiced concerns.

Watch O’Donnell’s comments below on MSNBC.

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