NBC Star Trump Hates Is ‘Asking Other Networks for Job’

NBC chief political analyst and former Meet the Press host Chuck Todd has told news industry leaders he is planning to leave the network when his contract is up this year, Semafor reported Sunday.

The network mainstay has reportedly told editors from other networks and digital media organizations about his plans, and has been discussing new roles—in both broadcast and other mediums.

NBC did not immediately return a request for comment from the Daily Beast. Neither the network nor Todd have confirmed the departure.

Todd previously hosted Meet the Press, the network’s premier Sunday interview show, from 2014 through 2023.

During his tenure, he frequently drew the ire of President-elect Donald Trump, who bestowed him with the derogatory nickname “sleepy eyes.”

Trump sat down with Todd on the venerated interview program multiple times, both during his 2016 presidential campaign and over two years into his first term in office. During the second interview, Todd notably clashed with Trump over whether he won the popular vote in the 2016 election.

But Todd was reportedly being sidelined by NBC as early as 2022 when Meet the Press’s ratings began falling. His daily version of Meet the Press was also moved to MSNBC’s streaming network that same year.

Todd has long been outspoken about the role of political journalists, both during and after Trump’s first term in office. In 2018, Todd wrote a story in The Atlantic calling on journalists to “speak up for their work” as public trust in the media began falling in the wake of the first Trump campaign and presidency.

In a 2021 edition of the Politico Playbook, Todd criticized Republicans, particularly those in the Senate, for their “selective silence” in avoiding the Sunday interview shows.

When NBC announced former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel would join the network as a contributor earlier this year, Todd led the charge against his own network—criticizing his bosses live on air for putting his Meet the Press successor Kristen Welker in an “impossible situation.”

McDaniel was ousted as a contributor by NBC News just four days after her hiring was announced.