Ronna McDaniel, the former chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, is joining NBC News as a political analyst.
McDaniel will start in her role on Sunday with an appearance on Meet the Press with Kristen Welker. She will sit for an interview, her first since stepping down last month. The network said that the conversations to secure the interview started months before McDaniel was hired as a contributor.
McDaniel will appear on NBC News and MSNBC, and will be part of the network’s campaign and election night programming. That also will include appearances on NBC News Now.
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McDaniel, the second woman to serve as RNC chair, was a steadfast defender of former President Donald Trump. About a year after the attacks on the Capitol, she presided over an RNC resolution to censure Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for their work as members of a House committee investigating the siege. The resolution called the two GOP lawmakers out for participating in a “Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.” After McDaniel appeared on Meet the Press in November, Cheney criticized her for refusing to condemn Trump’s remarks comparing his opponents to “vermin.”
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The network said that McDaniel’s role “represents an ongoing commitment to featuring a variety of voices who can offer firsthand insight on today’s politics.” Other contributors from the Republican side of the aisle include Marc Short, the former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, and Brendan Buck, former adviser to House speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan. The network also has a number of Democrats on its roster of commentators, including Jen Psaki, former White House press secretary, and Symone Sanders-Townsend, former chief spokesperson to Vice President Kamala Harris.