Three MSNBC contributors leave network to join Biden Administration (2024)

Three MSNBC contributors and one CNN commentator are leaving their paid on-air roles after being tapped to join the Biden Administration.

MSNBClegal expert Barbara McQuade, political analyst Richard Stengel and health expert Dr Ezekiel Emanuel will no longer serve as paid commentators for the network after joining the president-elect's new transition team, sources told DailyMail.com on Wednesday.

CNN's Jen Psaki has also been revealed to have left the news station this week to join the Biden-Harris camp as a senior adviser.

She was featured on air in her new capacity during a segment on Anderson Cooper 360 Tuesday night.

Meanwhile McQuade, a former US Attorney appointed by Obama, has taken up a role with Biden's Department of Justice agency review teamafter serving as a legal expert for the network since 2017.

Stengel, one of MSNBC's original on-air analysts, will lead Biden's US Agency for Global Media team.

He previously served as Obama's Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs from 2014 to 2016.

Similarly, Dr Ezekiel Emanuel, has left the network after being appointed to Biden's Coronavirus Task Force.

Per network policy, all three pundits will no longer be paid for their on-air appearances but will still be welcomed back to the airwaves as guests.

The same goes forlongtime analyst Jon Meacham, who was dropped by the MSNBC after he failed to disclose that he had been helping write Biden's speeches.

But unlike McQuade, Stengel and Emanuel, Meacham is not expected to take up a permanent role in the White House.

The Biden campaign did not respond to requests for comment when contacted by DailyMail.com.

Meacham, a historian and Pulitzer prize-winning biographer, had been a frequent commentator for the network, making appearances on Morning Joe, Deadline, and The 11th Hour with Brian Williams.

The political analyst had most recently appeared on air to comment on the presidential election as well as Biden's victory speech on Saturday night.

Meacham, however, did not tell his employers that he himself had been involved in crafting Biden's speeches, including his acceptance address in Wilmington, The New York Timesreported.

The report revealed Meacham had been 'playing a larger role' in Biden's campaign 'than was previously known', including writing the president-elect's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention this summer as well as his speech in Gettysburg last month.

Meacham appeared on the network three times since Biden's remarks on Saturday, including one appearance in which he analyzed the speech.

He was asked to weigh in on the address during an on-air conversation with anchor Brian Williams over the weekend.

'I'm not the historian that you are, and I don't have the Pulitzer that you do, but do you concur that is the way we are used to hearing from our presidents?' Williams asked.

'Absolutely,' Meacham said, without admitting he played a role in the writing process.

A Biden spokesperson on Monday downplayed Meacham's involvement, telling the Times Biden had written his own victory speech but had 'consulted a number of important, diverse voices as he often does.'

Another campaign official said Meacham had contributed to the 'themes' included in Biden's remarks.

Although the source did not specify which themes, parts of Biden's speech seemed to echo Meacham's 2018 book -The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels - as he spoke of 'rebuilding the soul of America.'

MSNBC declined to comment to DailyMail.com when asked about Meacham's omission.

On Tuesday, Tom Elliott, the founder and news editor of media company Grabien, said the revelation came as no surprise.

'In a year of media shocks, this was not one. Anyone who's tuned into 'Morning Joe' over the last year already knows that Meacham's 'analysis' sounds no different than what you'd expect from a Biden campaign' spokesperson,' he told Fox News.