Ronna McDaniel Is Reportedly Chatting With Pitbull Media Lawyer and Seeking to Collect Her Full $600K Contract — Or Even More

Sarah RumpfMar 27th, 2024, 1:19 pm
 
Ronna McDaniel standing in front of American flags

AP Photo/Alex Brandon.

Ronna McDaniel’s tenure at NBC News lasted less than half of a Scaramucci, but she may still cash in a six-figure paycheck — or even more — according to a report by Politico that says the former RNC chair has reached out to a big dog media lawyer.

On Tuesday, news broke that NBC was cutting ties with McDaniel, just days after announcing she had been hired as a political analyst. The announcement came after a furious — and very public — backlash from a mob of the network’s on-air personalities, who highlighted McDaniel’s involvement in former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Defenestrating McDaniel may soothe the ruffled feathers of the network talent, but it seems likely to come with a hefty price tag. Multiple media outlets reported that McDaniel’s two-year contract was set to pay her nearly $300,00o per year, and sources told Mediaite’s Aidan McLaughlin that the contract was in fact signed.

In a breach of contract claim, the specific language in the contract and the appropriate state law will be relevant, but as a general concept, since McDaniel was ready, willing, and able to perform her part of the contract obligations, arguing that NBC breached the contract should be fairly simple. Helping McDaniel’s case is the fact that she already showed up for what was essentially her first and last day at work: her March 24 interview with Kristen Welker on Meet the Press. Welker even mentioned on air that McDaniel was now a “paid NBC News contributor.”

Politico Playbook’s Wednesday edition highlighted just how expensive that roughly 20-minute segment could be for NBC, calculating that if McDaniel was able to collect the approximately $600,000 she would be owed for her full 2-year contract, it would break down to “more than $30,000 per minute, or $500 per second.” (Emphasis in original.)

Politico also reported that McDaniel was bringing in the big guns, legally speaking, consulting with Bryan Freedman, a top-level entertainment and media attorney, to discuss her options.

Freedman made the Mediaite Most Influential in News Media 2023 list as “one of the most powerful — and most feared people in the media industry,” a “pitbull attorney” who has represented some of the biggest names in the media industry who found themselves unceremoniously removed from their posts, including Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon.

McDaniel is reportedly also “exploring potential defamation and hostile work environment torts,” according to Politico, because of the tsunami of hostility directed her way from what seemed like the entire MSNBC schedule for a few days. Those claims will almost certainly be more difficult and complex to establish, unlike the relatively clear-cut breach of contract claims, but Freedman  definitely has the résumé to handle the entire matter.

Mediaite reached out to Freedman’s law firm for comment, but has not yet received a response.

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Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law & Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on the BBC, MSNBC, NewsNation, Fox 35 Orlando, Fox 7 Austin, The Young Turks, The Dean Obeidallah Show, and other television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe.