Chuck Todd leaves NBC News as shake-up at Dem-friendly media rolls on under Trump

Former "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd is now leaving NBC News altogether, he announced Friday.

"Today is my last day ... at NBC," Todd said on the Friday episode of "The Chuck ToddCast" podcast. He also added that with all the time on his hands now, he would take a "little hiatus" before delving into what he called "a few new projects" in a lengthy memo issued to staff.

"There's never a perfect time to leave a place that's been a professional home for so long," he wrote in the memo, according to USA Today. "So I'm grateful for the chance to get a jump start on my next chapter during this important moment."

Todd clarified that he will be able to continue hosting his podcast. "'The Chuck ToddCast' is also coming with me (thank you NBC). Stay tuned for an announcement about its new home soon," the memo said.

'My reporting and unique perspective of covering politics with data and history ... [are] important baselines in understanding where we were, where we are, and where we're going.'

In the memo, Todd took aim at the national media — of which he has been part since 2007 — suggesting that outlets had lost their way.

"National media can't win trust back without having a robust partner locally, and trying to game algorithms is no way to inform and report. People are craving community, and that's something national media or the major social media companies can't do as well as local media," Todd wrote.

"We can't tolerate propagandists. But it doesn't mean sticking your head in the sand, either; if you ignore reality, you'll miss the biggest story."

Despite his criticisms of the media, he also indicated he remains a journalistic tour de force, telling staff: "Needless to say, I do plan to continue to share my reporting and unique perspective of covering politics with data and history as important baselines in understanding where we were, where we are, and where we're going."

He likewise dropped repeated hints at a bias against President Donald Trump. "I leave feeling concerned about this moment in history but reassured by the standards I and others at NBC have worked so hard to set," he said, once again patting himself on the back.

"This is a ripe moment," he claimed elsewhere.

"We're grateful for Chuck's many contributions to our political coverage during his nearly two-decade career at NBC News and for his deep commitment to 'Meet the Press' and its enduring legacy," an NBC News spokesperson said in a statement, according to Fox News. "We wish him all the best in his next endeavors."

'Since the onset of the Donald Trump era, it has been the GOP in a constant state of disarray.'

Though he seemingly pointed the finger at others for Americans' overall distrust of media, throughout his career, Todd has often been a participant in political activism masked as analysis. Back in February 2016, Todd predicted that Trump's brash attitude would likely "do long-term damage" to his prospects for the White House.

More recently, in August, Todd wrote that "it wasn’t until Trump that the party began to organize itself more as a cult-of-personality party, rather than an institution."

"Since the onset of the Donald Trump era, it has been the GOP in a constant state of disarray."

Then in December, Todd openly fretted about potential industry fallout after ABC News and George Stephanopoulos settled with Trump for $15 million in connection with a defamation lawsuit. "This was stunning to me and absolutely a gut punch to anybody that works at a major media company, because I think it does set a precedent that is going to be very difficult to get out from under potentially," he said at the time.

Todd, 52, first joined NBC News in 2007 and was named host of "Meet the Press" seven years later. He left that role in 2023 but remained with the network until Friday.

Todd is far from the only high-profile news figure to part ways with a major news network since the beginning of the second Trump term. Norah O'Donnell left "CBS Evening News" on January 23, and Jim Acosta — perhaps best known for his irascible personality and contentious White House coverage during Trump's first term — quit CNN earlier this week rather than move to the graveyard shift.

Hoda Kotb left the "Today" show on NBC days before Trump took office again on January 20.

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