DeSantis, wife to sit down with NBC's Dasha Burns in first network interview 

Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis and his wife, Casey DeSantis, will sit down with NBC’s Dasha Burns for the candidate's first network interview during his campaign, the network announced Sunday.

NBC News said the interview will air Monday on the “Today” show and “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.” Additional segments will also air throughout the day on MSNBC and NBC News NOW, according to the network. 

Florida’s first lady has played a central role in her husband’s campaign for the White House, having joined him for various appearances on the campaign trail. Her presence has drawn both praise and criticism in parts of the news media. 

“DeSantis’s first network interview will take place amid questions about the strength of his candidacy, ongoing attacks from the former president, and as he attempts to shift from campaigning as an incumbent governor to an insurgent candidate,” NBC News wrote in a statement. 

The interview comes amid DeSantis’s sagging polling numbers as recent polls show him continuing to trail behind former President Trump in the Republican primaries.

DeSantis’s campaign has come under fire over the past few weeks for its laying off 38 staffers late last month in an effort to revamp amid low poll numbers. His campaign team also fired a staffer last month who reportedly made a pro-DeSantis video featuring the Republican candidate at the center of a sonnenrad, an ancient European symbol used in Nazi imagery and propaganda. 

DeSantis recently sat down for an interview with Fox News’s chief political anchor Bret Baier and appeared for the first time on CNN last month in an interview with Jake Tapper.   

The Hill has reached out to the DeSantis campaign for comment.