Ronna McDaniel Dropped by CAA as Future of NBC Deal Remains Uncertain
CAA, the agency that helped broker Ronna McDaniel’s deal with NBC News as a political analyst, has cut ties with the former RNC chair, according to an insider with knowledge of the situation.
McDaniel is reportedly interviewing attorneys to engage in a possible legal fight with the network as executives discuss how to proceed after massive internal backlash was sparked by her hiring.
Senior executives at NBC News were meeting on Tuesday to determine the fate of McDaniel with the network, according to Variety.
The New York Times first reported the news on Tuesday.
Anchors across the network panned leadership for hiring McDaniel, citing her promotion of election fraud claims in 2020 alongside Trump.
The on-air criticism of the decision was kicked off by NBC News’ Chuck Todd, who appeared on “Meet the Press” following McDaniel’s interview on Sunday’s show.
“Look, there’s a reason why there’s 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, have been met with character assassination.”
MSNBC anchors followed suit on Monday, engaging in a parade of on-air criticisms of the network’s decision, calling for a reversal, including Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Nicolle Wallace, Joy Reid, Jen Psaki, Rachel Maddow, and Lawrence O’Donnell.
The backlash was so strong that NBC’s sister network, MSNBC, had to reassure staff on Saturday that it has no plans to have McDaniel on any of its shows.
Since she was signed by NBC, McDaniel has downplayed her role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election, although, as the party’s spokesperson, she was among those complaining of “irregularities” and voting machine errors.
As the New York Times noted on Tuesday, these allegations were disputed by election officials and later debunked. She repeated unsubstantiated claims of “deceased voters” and “batches of votes that were invalidated,” including a Fox News appearance on Nov. 10 in which she said “that is stealing” of allowing the election results to be certified.
Fox News later had to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million in the largest-ever payout in a defamation suit, and admit they had broadcast false statements about the company. However, the network was not required to make those statements on-air.
In Sunday’s interview with Kristen Welker, McDaniel said she now believes that Joe Biden won the 2020 election “fair and square.”
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