NBC News
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President-elect Donald Trump has agreed to sit down with NBC’s Kristen Welker for his first network interview after winning the 2024 election last month.
According to reports, Donald Trump has agreed to sit down with Meet The Press moderator Kristen Welker for his first network interview since being reelected to the White House in last month’s presidential election. The interview with Welker will take place Friday (Dec. 6), and will be recorded and aired Sunday (Dec. 8), during the 10:30 a.m. time slot that Meet The Press usually airs in, as announced by NBC.
Trump and Welker have a turbulent history as interviewer and subject. Welker interviewed him for Meet The Press in September 2023, which would be Trump’s only major network appearance. Welker was taken to task by critics for not firmly fact-checking Trump on his talking points, which included immigration and the policies of his then-Republican primary opponent, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. That interview stood out among his appearances on Fox News networks and with podcast hosts such as Joe Rogan and Adin Ross during the presidential election cycle.
Welker was also attacked by Trump as being “biased” before his debate against then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in September 2020. He’d later praise her during the debate, hosted by NBC News. “By the way, so far, I respect very much the way you’re handling this. I have to say,” he said at the debate stage in Belmont, Tennessee. She also sparred with Vice President-elect JD Vance over his backpedaling on abortion after his debate in October.
The interview is significant as other outlets are plotting on how to cover and approach Trump, who has repeatedly expressed his desire to get revenge on those whom he felt had wronged him. Most recently, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, the hosts of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, have been under constant criticism after they visited Mar-a-Lago last month after the election. Scarborough blasted critics of the meeting in a 20-minute rant Thursday morning (Dec. 5), claiming that other networks are plotting out their own sit-downs with Trump. “Do we judge CNN for doing it? No,” he said. “You know why? It’s their jobs! Grow up! It’s their jobs. The only thing we did that caused this Twitter storm is we told you. Now, if you’d prefer that we don’t tell you everything that we do that’s fine. But we just thought in this case that transparency was best.”
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Veteran Washington, D.C., news anchor Leon Harris is stepping away from the desk to work on “health issues” after a recent on-air issue during a segment.
On Monday (Dec. 2), NBC4 News in Washington, D.C., issued a statement through its website and on the air announcing that anchor Leon Harris is “stepping away” from the desk to focus on “health issues” after appearing to be unwell during a segment on their Thanksgiving broadcast. “We here at NBC4 — and you at home — care deeply about Leon and wish him well. We thank you for your concern,” they wrote. They did not disclose what health issues Harris was dealing with in response to further press requests.
An update about our colleague Leon Harris. pic.twitter.com/dzUEe96Qa4
— NBC4 Washington (@nbcwashington) December 2, 2024
The 63-year-old was on air delivering the news about local vandalism. Still, viewers noticed that the veteran newscaster struggled to pronounce some words and street names and exhibited slurred speech. Harris was pulled from the desk after the segment ended, and meteorologist Ryan Miller addressed viewer concerns that he suffered a stroke or some other medical issue during his segment covering the weather. “We’ve heard a lot from some of you through phone and email during this newscast,” Miller said. “We want to assure you that our colleague, Leon Harris, is fine. The News4 team appreciates your concern.”
Harris has been a fixture at NBC4 since joining the station in 2017 after working at the local ABC network, WJLA. The journalist has won an Emmy Award for his work, having started his career at CNN in Atlanta, Georgia. Harris has dealt with health issues in the past, having taken a leave of absence to recover from a foot injury in September that he suffered at his home. In 2013, Harris also dealt with necrotizing pancreatitis that placed him in the intensive care unit. He also has dealt with alcohol abuse, having been arrested for DUI in 2013 and in 2022. “I made a terrible mistake,” he said in 2022 in an interview with the Washington Post. “After drinking, I decided to get into my car and drive. This is the worst decision I could possibly have made.”
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NBC News is facing a public revolt by its on-air personalities including Rachel Maddow over the hiring of former RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel.
The hiring of Ronna McDaniel, the former Republican National Committee chairwoman by NBC News and Comcast last week has caused a visible backlash, becoming more apparent as several of the on-air personalities made it a point to decry her hiring, with its star anchor Rachel Maddow expressing her displeasure on her show Monday night (March 25).
“I want to associate myself with all my colleagues, both at MSNBC and NBC News, who have voiced loud and principled objections to our company putting on the payroll someone who hasn’t just attacked us as journalists, but someone who is part of an ongoing project to get rid of our system of government,” she during the 29-minute opening monologue. “Someone who still is trying to convince Americans that this election stuff, it doesn’t really work.” Maddow would implore her bosses to reconsider. “It is a sign of strength, not weakness, to acknowledge when you are wrong,” she said, adding: “It is a sign of strength. And our country needs us to be strong now.”
McDaniel resigned as the head of the RNC at the behest of the presumptive nominee and former President Donald Trump. McDaniel has been under fire for parroting his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. When appearing on Meet The Press with host Kristin Welker on Sunday (March 24), McDaniel seemed to walk that back. “Fair and square, he won,” Ms. McDaniel replied when asked about the election by Welker, but adding, “I do think it’s fair to say there were problems in 2020.” That led to Chuck Todd denouncing the decision in a post-segment panel. Reportedly, McDaniel is set to earn $300,000 in the deal. Numerous employees at NBC News and MSNBC have also reportedly expressed their outrage at McDaniel’s hiring.
Maddow would also be joined by Lawrence O’Donnell of The Last Word, capping off an entire day of rebuke that began with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, stating that McDaniel would not be on their program as a “paid contributor.” That sentiment was echoed by Joy Reid, Jen Psaki, and Nicole Wallace who said the hiring “wittingly or unwittingly” was a signal to election deniers of the approval of McDaniel’s past actions. There has been no public comment from MSNBC boss Rashida Jones, NBC News Chairman Cesar Conde, or McDaniel.
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