Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Whatley said Thursday that NBC News will not face any consequences by his party for firing its former chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel.
NBC News cut ties with McDaniel just two days after her debut on “Meet the Press,” happening weeks following her resignation from her position at the RNC. Pundits at NBC and its affiliate, MSNBC, raged at McDaniel’s new gig at their network over her remarks about the election.
Whatley said the party needs to use “every single platform available” to spread their message and directly communicate with voters.
“Any platform that we can possibly use to communicate with those voters, we’ve got to be able to take advantage of,” Whatley said on “The Sean Spicer Show.” “Is mainstream media gonna treat us fairly? No. Have they ever treated us fairly? No, they’re not going to do it. Does that mean that we want to necessarily never go on there and never try to reach those target audiences that they cover? I don’t think so, right?”
“What we want to do is use any vehicle that we can to get our message out to the American voters because when we have informed voters, they are going to say ‘were we better off under Joe Biden or are we better off under President Trump?’ And the answer there is very, very clear that America was better off under President Trump, and will be better off under President Trump, than they are right now under Joe Biden,” he continued.
McDaniel has talked to legal representatives about her contract following her abrupt departure from the network, a source told Politico. She reportedly expects to be paid the full $600,000 included in the contract over a two-year period since she did not breach any terms, the source said. (RELATED: Mika And Joe Absolutely Lose It Over Media ‘Cutting Down’ Republicans…Days After Ousting Ronna McDaniel)
McDaniel’s single “Meet the Press” interview could cost NBC News more than $30,000 per minute if she is to still be paid in full, according to Politico.
MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski lamented McDaniel’s now-former gig during Monday’s “Morning Joe,” and further urged her own network’s affiliate to “reconsider” its decision. Her husband, Joe Scarborough, said they were not asked about their opinions but would have strongly discouraged the network’s decision.
“The View” co-hosts condemned the network’s decision, with co-host Sunny Hostin calling the hiring “despicable.” Co-host Ana Navarro claimed McDaniel switches her views whenever it is convenient.
NBC’s Chuck Todd demanded the network apologize to Welker for booking an interview with McDaniel. He argued she has shifted her views so many times that it was impossible to know if she was sincere.
“She is now a paid contributor by NBC news,” Todd told Welker. “I have no idea whether any answer she gave to you was because she didn’t want to mess up her contract. She wants us to believe that she was speaking for the RNC when the RNC was paying for it. So, she has credibility issues that she still has to deal with. Is she speaking for herself, or is she speaking on behalf of who’s paying her? Once at the RNC, she did say that, ‘Hey, I’m speaking for the party.’ I get that. That’s part of the job. So, what about here?”
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow called McDaniel’s hiring “a worrying time,” and Nicolle Wallace said the network is allowing “election deniers” to appear on their so-called “sacred airwaves.”