On tonight’s MTP Daily, guest-host Chris Jansing spoke with Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) who announced his plans to run for re-election in 2018. 

MANDATORY CREDIT: MTP DAILY

Highlight:

Chris Jansing: Are you going to run for re-election?

Sen. Carper: I’m running for re-election. We’re raising money.

Chris Jansing: You are?

Sen. Carper: Yeah, oh yeah. 

Video: http://on.msnbc.com/2urBMoP 

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Full transcript

CHRIS JANSING:  Joining me now, Democratic Senator Tom Carper of Delaware.

Senator, good to see you.

Thanks for coming on.

SEN. TOM CARPER (D), DELAWARE:  Chris, nice to see you.

Thank you.

JANSING:  I listened to this today and I'm trying to figure out, for the average American, as they listen to it, what is it about this new message that says this is something new, this is something different, and maybe more to the point, this is being said by people I can count on, because I think a lot of those people who left the Democratic Party and didn't vote or voted for Donald Trump did it because they didn't think you guys came through for them.

CARPER:  Let's back up a little bit, if I could.

Do you remember when Bill Clinton was elected as president?

He took over as president during a recession and eight years later, more jobs had been created than during those eight years than any eight year period in the history of the United States of America.  Fast forward, eight years after that, George W. Bush stepped down as president and left us in the worst recession since the Great Depression, succeeded by Barack Obama, eight years later, the longest running economic expansion in the history of this country, eight million -- 16 million jobs created.

I think sometimes we forget that.  And I think it's important to remember that.

People in my job, governors, presidents, senators, we don't create jobs.  What we help to do is create a nurturing environment for job creation, the kind of modern infrastructure that includes roads, highways, bridges that move people where they need to go, when they need to go, broadband fully deployed, the ability for people who are sitting on the sidelines and don't have a job, don't have the skills and all these jobs over here are looking for people who have certain skills, where -- what we have to do is figure out how to tool or retool these millions of people who would like to do the jobs that are simply not being filled.

So those are some of the things that we what to do and we need to do -- access to capital, access to foreign markets, all those things are part of creating the nurturing environment for job creation.

JANSING:  And look, I think that that's a message that we heard, in many ways, from Hillary Clinton.  We heard, in many ways, from -- actually from Donald Trump, and even from Bernie Sanders.

I think, as you look at the pictures and it got mocked, frankly, a lot on social media, which doesn't mean that they're right, but it did get mocked a lot because you have there, you know, 66-year-old Chuck Schumer, 77-year-old Nancy Pelosi, the face of the people who, frankly, didn't look tremendously diverse.

Is that the image that the Democratic Party wants to put out there, Senator?

CARPER:  Well, they're -- they are our leaders and there are a lot of us behind those leaders who have been governors, who have been mayors and who have done a lot of work in creating that nurturing environment.

Again, I don't care if you're the speaker of the House, I don't care if you're the leader in the Senate, Democratic or Republican, you don't really create that many jobs.  The key is creating the nurturing environment.

What are the tools and what are the things that we need to have, including workforce skills, access to capital, access to foreign markets.  That's how you create jobs.  And whoever can present that kind of, I think, program, and actually related to when we had eight great years with Bill Clinton,

We've had eight years with Barack Obama.  Over 16 million jobs have been created, the longest running economic expansion.

What did Harry Truman used to say?

JANSING:  But people...

CARPER:  The only thing...

JANSING:  -- people aren't going to be voting...

CARPER:  -- that's (INAUDIBLE) in the road is the...

JANSING:  -- for Barack Obama.

CARPER:  -- (INAUDIBLE).

JANSING:  They aren't going to be voting for Bill Clinton.

CARPER:  (INAUDIBLE).

Yes, that's OK.  This is what we did when we really went on a roll, not 20, 30, 40 or 50 years ago.  This was like 20 years ago.  This was like 10 years ago.  And I think you have to have a program -- you have to have a prescription that's relevant for the current time.

The real problem here is we've got so many people who don't have the skills, we have all these jobs that are looking for people who need skills that they don't have.

And whoever can come up with a way to retool people so that they can better fit into the jobs of the 21st century, they'll have do them a favor, will also do our country a favor.

And the other thing, I think the one thing we can all agree on is transportation, infrastructure and deployment of broadband.  We could put all kinds of people to work, including people who don't have college degrees, but who could actually do the work and want to do the work.

JANSING:  Do you see that getting...

CARPER:  That would be smart.

JANSING:  -- done in this atmosphere?

CARPER:  You know, what did Wayne Gretsky used to say?

They said, Mr. Gretsky, why are you -- why do you take so many shots on goal?

He said, I missed every shot I never took.

We've got to take this shot.  We need roads, highways, bridges.  We need rail.  We need investments in all those things, in airports, as well.

That would put people to work...

JANSING:  Let's talk about what's coming up before that, if we can...

CARPER:  -- and it would actually help people move faster...

JANSING:  -- and that is health care.

CARPER:  -- and goods and services move faster, as well.

Go ahead.

I'm sorry.

JANSING:  You've got health care coming up tomorrow.  So that's the immediate issue that if you're like most of the members of Congress, both on the Senate and the House side that I've talked to, they've been inundated with phone calls from people.  People are very nervous about what you guys are going to do about this.

You have said that this is a perfect time, that the Republicans and the Democrats have got to work together.  And I'm wondering, are there members of the Republican Party that you have spoken to about this?

What are those discussions with those Republicans?

Where can you find some common ground?

CARPER:  Well, I think a lot of us agree that this is a good time to hit the pause button.  This is a time for us to fix immediately what needs to be fixed immediately and the administration seems to be hell-bent on destabilizing the exchanges, which is actually a Republican idea in all 50 states.

We need to stabilize the exchanges...

JANSING:  And you've had that discussion with Republicans, Senator?

CARPER:  Oh, sure.  Sure.  We need to stabilize the exchanges.  There are about three simple things we could do to actually do that.

And the next thing we need to do is take up what I call regular order.  Regular order -- John McCain calls it regular order.  And that is let's do hearings.  We've got all -- heaven knows what they're going to bring to the floor tomorrow.  We don't know.

We've not had hearings on it.  I don't know that CBO has fully scored it.  We don't know if the Cruz proposal is in or out.

That's a crazy way to do business.  It's -- this is one sixth of our nation's economy and we're going for it as if like with our blinders on?

I can't believe we're doing this.

JANSING:  I hear in your tone frustration that I hear from a lot of folks on Capitol Hill in both parties.

Are you going to run for reelection?

CARPER:  I'm running for reelection.  We're raising the money.

JANSING:  You are?

CARPER:  Oh, yes, yes.  And we'll -- you know, you go back to the election -- just before the election last year, Hillary was going to be president, the Democrats were going to be in the majority in the Senate and I was ready to say, OK, let them do that and I'll go find some other challenges to do.

I don't think I've ever been as motivated and energized in my life than in the Senate.  And I come into work -- people say you must -- it must be a terrible job you do these days.

And I say, no, no, I love coming here.  I love the folks I work with and what we're doing is important.  We need to make progress.

JANSING:  Senator Carper, good to see you.

Thank you.

CARPER:  Very nice to see you, Chris.

Thank you.

(END)

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MSNBC’S ‘HUGH HEWITT’ EXCLUSIVE: POMPEO SAYS TRUMP IS AN ‘AVID CONSUMER’ OF CIA REPORTS

In an exclusive, wide-ranging interview that aired yesterday on the premiere of MSNBC’s “Hugh Hewitt,” (Saturdays, 8:00-8:30amET), CIA Director Mike Pompeo discussed reports that President Trump is “uninterested in facts on the ground,” saying: “I cannot imagine a statement that is any more false… He is an avid consumer of the products we provide, thinks about them, and comes back and asks great questions.”

This is Pompeo’s first news network interview since becoming CIA Director.

On North Korea, Pompeo told host Hugh Hewitt: “I hardly ever escape a day at the White House without the President asking me about North Korea and how it is that the United States is responding to that threat.  It's very much at the top of his mind.”

On Russia election hacking, Pompeo said: “I can't talk about the details of the intelligence, but we have, the intelligence community has said, that this election was meddled with by the Russians in a way that is frankly not particularly original... So in some ways, there's no news, but it certainly puts a heightened emphasis on our ability to figure out how to stop them.”

“Hugh Hewitt” provides interviews and analysis on the biggest stories of the week with leading newsmakers and a panel of experts from both sides of the aisle. The program is hosted by three-time Emmy Award-winner Hugh Hewitt and airs Saturdays from 8am to 8:30amon MSNBC.

Rush transcript and video are below.Mandatory credit: MSNBC’s “Hugh Hewitt.”

Video: http://on.msnbc.com/2tZQ1OF

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FULL TRANSCRIPT

HUGH HEWITT, MSNBC HOST:  Today, I bring to you my conversation with the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Mike Pompeo.  This is his first interview with a news network since taking the job.  I sat down with the former congressman, West Point and Harvard Law graduate at CIA headquarters in Langley.  I started by asking him about Russia's meddling in last year's election, and what the administration is doing to stop it from happening again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE POMPEO, DIRECTOR, CIA:  I can't talk about the details of the intelligence, but we have, the intelligence community has said, that this election was meddled with by the Russians in a way that is frankly not particularly original.  They've been doing this for an awfully long time.  And we are decades into the Russians trying to undermine American democracy.  So in some ways, there's no news, but it certainly puts a heightened emphasis on our ability to figure out how to stop them.

HEWITT:  The news was actually that Putin personally directed.  Do you think the Russian President did that?

POMPEO:  I can't confirm the intelligence related to that.

HEWITT:  John Brennan, your predecessor, is said in that story to have called his counterpart, now your counterpart, Mr. Bortnikov, of the FSB, on August 4 of last year.  Have you talked to Mr. Bortnikov since you became director?

POMPEO:  I don't talk about the liaison partners that I speak with.  But it is important that we continue to work in places where we can on intelligence matters to keep Americans safe.  Counterterrorism is a perfect example.  Americans fly on Russian planes, Russians fly on American planes, to the extent we can keep planes in the sky.  All of those counter terrorism issues and places they overlap, where there are terrorists in Kazakhstan or Russia or other places where the Russians might have information, I certainly expect they'll share that with us.  And by the same token, if we can help keep Russians or American interests in Russia alive by providing them with information, it's the right thing to do.

HEWITT:  Is there a conversation underway inside the administration with President Trump about what to reveal about the Russian attack, so as to fully communicate to the American public the severity of what happened and our resolve to make sure it doesn't happen again?

POMPEO:  Yes, Hugh, and I think we've done this in good part.  You've seen unclassified reports relating to the Russian activities.  Not only their cyber activities, but other propaganda active measures that they have been engaged in.  We'll continue to review that.  It is important that America understand what the Russians are doing.  Frankly, sometimes what the Russians aren't doing.  I've read reports in the press where they're just flat-out wrong, as well.  And so it is important that we communicate what the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, all of those folks are up to.  And to the extent we can declassify that information in a way that doesn't harm or put at risk an asset or a method that we're using, we have an obligation to do that.

HEWITT:  Director Pompeo, it's been a bad month for the intelligence community.  In the era of Snowden, I shouldn't be surprised, but is our intelligence community product safe?  Can it even be safe now?

POMPEO:  Well I certainly can't comment on any of those cases, other than what has been released either in the indictment that you referred to or elsewise.  But we have an important obligation to perform counterintelligence, that is protecting the secrets that America steals from somebody stealing them back from us.  And there have been failures.  Failures not only within the last couple of years, but failures before that.  We need to redouble our efforts.

It's tough.  You now have not only nation states trying to steal our stuff, but non-state, hostile intelligence services, well funded -- folks like WikiLeaks, out there trying to steal American secrets for the sole purpose of underming the United States and democracy.

HEWITT:  This is a hundred-year problem.

POMPEO:  It's not new.

HEWITT:  It's going to get -- it goes back a hundred years, but technology is going to turn it into a constant battle.  How are you, as the new director -- you were on the House Intel committee for a number of years before you came over, so you were aware of this -- how are you trying to change the culture where people just give stuff away for political vendetta, or in the case of treachery, treason?

POMPEO:  In some ways, I do think it's accelerated, Hugh.  I think there is a phenomenon, the worship of Edward Snowden, and those who steal American secrets for the purpose of self-aggrandizement or money or for whatever their motivation may be, does seem to be on the increase.

And so, one of the reasons I'm with you today is to talk about what the intelligence community does, what we don't do, the fact that every one of the amazing people who work at the Central Intelligence Agency has a single focus -- to protect American citizens.

We do foreign intelligence collection.  And I think the extent we can help people understand what we're doing and why we're doing it, there'll be a lot less support for these traitors who have done real harm to the men and women of America's armed forces who are out there on freedom's frontier.

HEWITT:  For a long time, popular culture has loved your business.  And whether it's the novels of John le Carre, through -- I brought along the most recent Daniel Silva novel, "House of Spies".  Have you read this yet?

POMPEO:  I have not had a chance to get into it yet.  I have before, but I haven't seen that one.

HEWITT:  You're described in it.  The new CIA Director.  I'll tell you about that in a little bit.

But whether it's spy games, or three days at the condor (ph), up to "Homeland" now and "24", there's a popular culture that thinks they understand what goes on here.  And it's getting used to the idea of there being rogue elements in a deep state.

Now I personally don't use the term deep state, because there are countries that unfortunately have a deep state, and I don't think we do.  But do you trust, around the table, that that what you say here stays here?

POMPEO:  I do.  I mean, it's that simple.  The men and women who sign up to sacrifice, to work at the Central Intelligence Agency are, with a handful of exceptions, patriots, aimed at lawfully doing what it is that the President directs them to do.  And I've been here now 152 days, and every person that I've met has been singularly focused on serving President Trump, on serving America, on doing their job in a way that has élan (ph) and professionalism, and with expertness that will serve our country incredibly well.

HEWITT:  Are you looking over your back with the other agencies, though?  Because the leak parade has been extraordinarily long and granular.  I mean, "The Washington Post" piece I referenced earlier has got to have 14 sources in it, all of whom probably broke the law when they talked to "The Post".  "The Post" didn't break the law writing the story, but you know how that works.  What about the rest of the government?

POMPEO:  I can only say this.  We, and I would say all of President Trump's government, is incredibly focused on both stopping leaks of any kind from any agency, and when they happen, pursuing them with incredible vigor.  And I think we'll have some successes both on the deterrence side, that is stopping them from happening, as well as on punishing those who we catch who have done it.

HEWITT:  Soon?

POMPEO:  I'm counting on it.

HEWITT:  Oh, very good.

Let's talk a little bit about the threats that are arrayed against America now, because you're in a unique position to talk about those.  On the Sunni extremism, ISIS and related groups, al-Shabaab, whatever they are, how much of a problem do we have here at home that your foreign intelligence permitted activities casts light on, even though that's up to the bureau to protect us from, what do you think is the scope of our problem here?

POMPEO:  Yes.  The scope is very real here.  We've had incidents here, we've seen them in San Bernardino, we saw them Florida.  So the United States has not escaped the wrath of ISIS and its Sunni Islamic extremism.  We have to be incredibly vigilant.  As we are successful, as I know the Trump administration will be in retaking Iraq and completing the mission in Mosul, at taking the caliphate, the real estate of the caliphate away, we have to be incredibly diligent.  And this is partly the CIA's role in making sure as these fighters decide to return somewhere, whether that's to Europe or to Southeast Asia, that they don't come back to the United States.  They, in some numbers, present an enormous risk to the United States.

HEWITT:  In terms of ISIS, even though there are advances in Mosul and Raqqa, they've gone mobile.  It's like "The Who" (ph) song.  And they're everywhere now, and they've metastasized.  How does that get put back in the box?  And if I can add to it, probably the most important thing I think President Trump has said in his first five months is in Saudi Arabia when he called upon the imams of Islam to fully communicate to radicals that your soul will be fully condemned.  A memorable line by President Trump.  That's trying to get at the heart of it.  Are we being successful in that?

POMPEO:  So there are two pieces to this.  One's the real time piece, those who have been radicalized, those who are currently engaged in terror support or terror activities.  That is an intelligence and law enforcement activity, and we have to go find these folks everywhere and take them out everywhere we find them.  We are intent upon that.

The second piece is what you've described.  There's a longer battle.  And that battle is, will be fought out in the ideological world.  And we need to encourage our partners who have a much greater capacity to have an impact on that.  You saw what the President said in Saudi Arabia as a good example.  Need to ensure that they are not fomenting this.  And that folks inside their country are not supporting it, and their educational curriculum isn't part of the problem.  If we do those things well, then we can get this under control.  It will take years, but we can begin to actually prevail in the ideological warfare that is very much at the center of the fight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BREAK)

HEWITT:  Now to the second part of my conversation with CIA Director, Mike Pompeo, and his answer to how he works daily with the President.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POMPEO:  I'm with the President nearly every day.  We have 35 or 40 minutes on his schedule.  That almost always runs long, which is great.  Great questions.  He is a serious consumer of the product that the intelligence community delivers, and I appreciate that, because I think it informs how he thinks about the world.

I know that my predecessor handled it differently.  Wasn't there very often.  President Obama consumed his intelligence in a different way.  President Trump is incredibly demanding of the intelligence community, asks us incredibly difficult questions, and then counts on myself and other leaders in the IC to deliver those answers for him.

HEWITT:  Some of his critics like to allege he is uninterested in facts on the ground.  What do you think of that?

POMPEO:  I cannot imagine a statement that is any more false than the one that would attribute President Trump not being interested in intelligence and facts when it comes to national security.  He is an avid consumer of the products we provide, thinks about them, and comes back and asks great questions.  And then, perhaps most importantly, relies upon that information.

HEWITT:  You're not shy, Mike Pompeo.  West Point, number one in your class, Harvard Law School, successful businessman, House Intel.  Do you push back with the President?  Do you two mix it up and spark it up, and do other people around him do so?

POMPEO:  Absolutely.  The whole team does.  Look, we want to get to the right answer.  And sometimes we get it wrong.  And so I think it's great when the President or Vice President or Secretary of Defense scribbles a note to me and says, hey Mike, I want you to go re-look at this.  I want your team to do another scrub.  Those are exactly the kinds of conversations.  And then we'll come back and say, no, we had it right, or you're right, we missed something, and fix it.  So we push back.

Our goal so to make sure he has the facts, the truth, about what it is going on in the world as we best understand it.

HEWITT:  We've gotten big things wrong before, we being the United States.  There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.  The national intelligence estimate about the Iranian nuclear weapons program that was leaked wrongly from this agency was wrong, about what they were doing there.  And we did not connect the dots before 9/11, because of interagency barriers and jealousies.  One, do you think we've connected all the dots that we can find and done so despite of turf wars?

POMPEO:  Yes.  I think we're in a much better place today, whether we've connected them all or not.  I suspect the answer is no.  I suspect perfection can't be achieved.  I'm glad to take no credit for this, this would have happened before my watch.  But the intelligence community has matured.  It has taken lessons from past failures and applied them to today's problems in pretty sophisticated ways, which I think knocked down lots of the risk that was sitting out there.  Intelligence gaps or intelligence that wasn't properly communicated.

We still always have a long ways to go.  Our adversaries are viciously fast in how they think about attacking America.  We have to be just as good.  Just as nimble.  If we look back at the problems of 2001, or frankly, even the problems of 2011, we won't be fast enough to crush our adversaries.

HEWITT:  Now, in terms of being fast, that also means you might be wrong in a big way.  And this "Washington Post" story, about which you cannot comment, suggests that the intelligence community (ph) almost uniformly believed that Secretary Clinton was going to win.  They had an assumption built into how they handled intelligence.  Assumptions are killers in your business. We had an assumption of WMD in the desert.  We had an assumption many different times along the way.  What do you do to stop a culture from assumption crippling an assessment?

POMPEO:  Yes.  You challenge them every place you find them.  You just viciously attack assumptions.  That is, you go try and prove them.  That is, provide data sets that support the assumption.  And then you have either the same folks or different folks attack the assumption present challenges.  Make arguments about why that assumption is just wrong, and then try and provide data sets that crush the assumption.  It's that kind of rigor which requires enormous stealing of secrets.  That is, you need a big database upon which to rely to understand which sets of assumptions are appropriate.  If we do those things well, we'll get it right most of the time.  And on the big questions, we should get it right nearly all of the time.

HEWITT:  Second major area of risk, Shia Islamic extremism, headquartered in Tehran, with franchises in Hezbollah land, in South Lebanon, in Yemen and other places around the world.  Number one, is Iran, to the best of your ability to tell, living up to the commitments it made in the deal that it did with President Obama?

POMPEO:  I'll leave the judgments about that to others.  Here's what I can say with absolute certainty.  Iran remains the Islamic Republic of Iran.  It remains the world's largest state sponsor of terror.  Every place along the way, with respect to the agreement, it has challenged that agreement, that is, it has stretched the understandings in that agreement.  And today, we find it with enormous influence, influence that far outstrips where it was six or seven years ago.  Whether it's the influence they have over the government in Baghdad, whether it's the increasing strength of Hezbollah and Lebanon, their work alongside the Houthis in Iran, the Iraqi Shias that are fighting along now the border in Syria -- certainly the Shia forces that are engaged in Syria.  Iran is everywhere throughout the Middle East.  Frankly, the last seven years have been a disaster, allowing the Iranians to expand all across that important region.

HEWITT:  In your opinion, which is the greater threat -- Islamist extremists of the Sunni variety headquartered in Raqqa and around the world, or of Hezbollah and Iran and the Shia extremism?  Which is more dangerous?

POMPEO:  Well they're fundamentally different.  One is a powerful nation state with wealth and resources and an organized government and an established piece of real estate upon which they have complete control.  So from a long-term -- as a long-term threat to the United States of America, I would say that Iran poses the longer challenge.  But I always hesitate to rank order them.  ISIS is an enormous risk to the United States today, and we have to do everything we can to defeat them.

HEWITT:  Major changes in Saudi Arabia and the kingdom succession this week.  Did they surprise the United States?  And are you comfortable with the relationship we have with our keystone Sunni allies in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Gulf?

POMPEO:  My very first trip as the Director of the CIA was to the Middle East.  I met with my intelligence counterparts all across the Gulf states.  They welcomed an American who wasn't on the side of the Iranians coming to visit with them.  What they wanted to understand was that America was going to understand them, support them when they were pushing back against allies, against adversaries that we share, and that would work closely alongside them to help them expand their economies as well.

I think we have great relationships with those Gulf states.  We've watched the transition in Saudi Arabia taking place.  I watched, as a member of Congress, for years.  It's the natural order of things.

HEWITT:  There is a deep concern that Saudi Arabia still harbors people who supported the 9/11 attack on the United States, extremist elements.  Do you believe they have that problem cabin contained and crushed?

POMPEO:  I don't want to comment on the details of the intelligence, but I can tell you that the Saudis have made a fundamental decision that they're not going to engage in that kind of activity that caused so much trouble over the past decades.  We have an obligation to make sure that they live up to that commitment, but I think they understand that it's no longer in Saudi Arabia's best interest to support that kind of terrorism.  The President has made it very clear to them that the condition of a good relationship to our country will be ensuring that terrorism isn't sponsored from their country.

HEWITT:  Specialists think North Korea poses a nuclear threat to Hawaii.  How much danger does North Korea pose?

POMPEO:  A very real danger.  I hardly ever escape a day at the White House without the President asking me about North Korea and how it is that the United States is responding to that threat.  It's very much at the top of his mind.

For 20 years, America has whistled past the graveyard, hoping on hope, that North Korea would turn colors and become part of the Western civilization . There's no evidence that that's going to take place, absent a very real, very concrete set of policies that put pressure on the North Koreans to de-nuclearize.  I think that's what you see Secretary Tillerson trying to do around the world.  They are ever-closer to having the capacity to hold America at risk with a nuclear weapon.

HEWITT:  Russia surprised us when they took Crimea.  China surprised us when they built artificial islands.  Has your capabilities in those areas seen sufficient resources directed to them so that we're not surprised again?

POMPEO:  The entire mission of the CIA is to ensure that we provide leaders with information to avoid those kinds of tactical and strategic surprise.  We have been incredibly blessed by the American taxpayers with resources to perform that function.  Now it's our task, my team's task, to ensure that something like that doesn't happen.

HEWITT:  A lighthearted one.  I mentioned to you Dan Silva.  He describes you in this book -- I just thought I'd read it to you.  Page 314.  He calls you Morris Payne (ph).

The agency's new director Payne was West Point, Ivy League law, private enterprise, and a former deeply conservative member of Congress from one of the Dakotas.

Of course, you're from Kansas.

He was big and bluff with a face like an Easter Island statue and a baritone voice that rattled the beams in the old house's haunted entrance hall.

He also said, he surrounded himself with other military people and that the CIA was going military.  Richard Helms famously said, we're not Boy Scouts.  If we wanted to be in the Boy Scouts, we'd have joined the Boy Scouts.  Is in fact the CIA becoming more operationally potent in the field?

POMPEO:  I hope so.  It is fervently my expectation that the tradition, right, we came out of the OSS and Wild Bill Donovan.  It is fervently my hope that I can spur this organization.  And frankly, don't even have to spur it.  The warriors are here.  Release the bridle and allow this agency to do the things that will serve and protect America in ways that frankly the last administration just didn't let them do.

We're going to do it.  We're going to get out there.  You can't win if you don't take risk.  The President has directed the CIA to win, and we're going to do it.

HEWITT:  On that note, Director Mike Pompeo, thank you for the time today.

POMPEO:  Thank you very much, Hugh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEWITT:  For more of the conversation, visit msnbc.com.

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NICOLLE WALLACE, HOST:  We're less than 24 hours out from Jim Comey's highly anticipated hearing on Capitol Hill. Amidst the fast and furious developments, I've got New Jersey Governor Chris Christie here with me to discuss it all. Thanks for being here.

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY:  Happy to be here, Nicolle.

WALLACE:  So what do you think it is about Donald Trump? I've heard various theories and we've talked about some of these privately.  But associates of NSA Director Rogers and DNI Coats have offered up different sort of explanations for why Donald Trump would do the kinds of things that make people in our intelligence agencies and our law enforcement agencies so uncomfortable that they would take memos right after they leave meetings with him. One, complete ignorance about the idea that the FBI is supposed to be independent? And -- or two, just a complete lack of any sort of moral compass? Which do you think it is?

CHRISTIE:  How about three?

WALLACE:  Tell me.

CHRISTIE:  You know, I think, listen, what people don't understand is that they elected an outsider president.  They elected someone who had never been inside government and, quite frankly, didn't spend a lot of time interacting with government except at the local level.  And so the idea of the way the tradition of these agencies is not something that he's ever been steeped in. So, you know, I think over the course of time, and he could -- we could talk about different examples -- what you're seeing is a president who is now very publicly learning about the way people react to what he considers to be normal New York City conversation.

WALLACE:  But do you think that anyone went to him and said it's highly inappropriate for you to ask the FBI director to drop an investigation into your friend, Mike Flynn, just because he's a, quote, "good guy?"

CHRISTIE:  Well, I don't know, because I don't know who the president may have told...

WALLACE:  Well, who... CHRISTIE:  -- that he actually said that.

WALLACE:  -- who should have done that?

CHRISTIE:  Well, first of all, you've got to know it to say it, right? So I mean, again, remember, what we're being told is that the conversation was a private conversation just between Director -- former Director Comey and the president. So I don't know who -- I don't know if the president turned around and told any member of his staff, oh, by the way, here's the conversation I just had. So I don't know.  But...

WALLACE:  Do you believe Jim Comey's version of the facts?

CHRISTIE:  Hard to tell.  I mean, you know, I want to hear Jim say it.  I mean, listen, I've said before, you know, I've gotten along well with Jim over the years, we've worked together.  I have a lot of respect for Jim. So you know, I'm not going to presume that anybody is lying.  And, quite frankly, in these kind of conversations, everybody hears what they want to hear.

WALLACE:  Well, OK, so what about the idea, though, that the White House wants to rapidly respond, that the president may live Tweet the Comey testimony? I mean obviously, the White House feels some exposure here...

CHRISTIE:  Well...

WALLACE:  -- they -- I mean and I've heard that the president is deeply, deeply distressed about the cloud that the Russia probe is having over his entire effort to be president, to make America great.

CHRISTIE:  Well, listen, if this kind of thing was going on and it didn't bother you, then we'd be saying that, you know, he was out of touch...

WALLACE:  Well, of course it bothers him. I mean does Donald Trump understand how self-destructive he is? All the problems he has are a result of his own efforts to dust them under the rug or...

CHRISTIE:  Well, first of all... WALLACE:  -- I mean he makes everything worse.

CHRISTIE:  Well... WALLACE:  Does he understand that?

CHRISTIE:  -- well, listen, let's divide it up for a second. First off, I think it's...

WALLACE:  But first, do you agree with the promise that he's making it worse?

CHRISTIE:  I disagree with the premise that he's the cause of all the things, your self-destructive premise.  I mean, you know, he is...

WALLACE:  You don't think he engages in self-destructive behavior...

CHRISTIE:  Well...

WALLACE:  -- on Twitter?

CHRISTIE:  -- well, wait a second, let me answer, OK? First off, he didn't cause Mike Flynn...

WALLACE:  Fair enough.

CHRISTIE:  -- to go to the Russians and then not tell the transition team about it and lie about it. And once he found out that Mike Flynn had lied, he got rid of him. So, listen, I said yesterday -- I was asked a question yesterday about the president's Tweeting and I've said, you know, it's a double-edged sword.  You know, in one respect, I can tell you, as someone who ran against him, it was an incredibly powerful tool to go around the media and to connect directly with the voters. Now, there are times when he Tweets stuff where I have said, you know, to lots of folks, God, he shouldn't have done that, he shouldn't have said those things. So I understand what you're saying about some of the conduct.  But let's not put it all into one mosh pit (ph).

WALLACE:  Well, OK, so let me be specific.

CHRISTIE:  Yes?

WALLACE:  So he said that he may have tapes on Jim Comey. Do you think that taunting Jim Comey by saying I may have tape recordings of you has any line to what's happening tomorrow, the fact that James Comey is going to testify before Congress?

CHRISTIE:  No.

WALLACE:  No?

CHRISTIE:  I think James Comey -- I think what the line was, was the president's decision to fire Jim Comey.  Now, I think once the president made the decision to fire Jim Comey, I think it was inevitable that Jim Comey would be giving testimony.

WALLACE:  When do you think the president decided to fire Jim Comey?

CHRISTIE:  I don't know.  I wasn't weighed in on that.  I don't know.

WALLACE:  Well, he said he was going to do it all along and you ran the transition for a while. Had you prepared other names for him?

CHRISTIE:  No.  No, we had not.

WALLACE:  So you didn't know about it, if he -- if it was...

CHRISTIE:  If he was thinking about it way back then, it was nothing that was ever discussed.  And we did not prepare any names in the transition because, you know, Jim was in the middle of a 10-year term. And we certainly got no direction from then the candidate or for the few days that I was head of the transition after he was president-elect, to say give me some names on FBI director.  No, that never happened.

WALLACE:  But you're pleased with the decision he made?

CHRISTIE:  Oh, he made -- listen, and this is the important part to remember about Donald Trump, is that he made an extraordinary decision and went about it in a very, very good way, took his time, met with a lot of people, consulted with a lot of people and came to a gold standard choice. I mean, no matter...

WALLACE:  That's right.

CHRISTIE:  -- where you hear it, Republicans or Democrats today all say Chris Ray is a top flight lawyer.  He was an incredible member of the Department of Justice when I worked with him.  He has the respect of law enforcement.  He has the respect of the prosecutors.  He has the respect of the defense bar.

WALLACE:  Do you think Chris Ray will get the same question James Comey got? Donald Trump asked Jim Comey, if you accept his testimony, to let him know if any of his -- "satellite associates" was the word that the president used -- were involved with Russia. Do you think that Donald Trump knows whether or not his campaign associates had any contacts with the Russians?

CHRISTIE:  Well, listen, I don't think that Donald Trump knows what every person who claims they were associated -- I'll give you an example, OK? I was involved with the campaign from February of '16, late February, forward.  I never met Carter Page nor ever heard his name.  I was on the plane with the president.  I was in intelligence briefings with the then candidate, now president.  I was in on almost every high level political conversation. When I tell you not only didn't I ever meet Carter Page, I wouldn't -- if someone had said that person's name, I wouldn't have associated him with anything, let alone the Trump campaign.

WALLACE:  But in fairness, Donald...

CHRISTIE:  When you're a big campaign...

WALLACE:  -- but Donald Trump...

CHRISTIE:  No.

WALLACE:  -- introduced Carter Page...

CHRISTIE:  Let me ask you a question. WALLACE:  -- to the media.

CHRISTIE:  You and I both worked for George W. Bush. Do you think George W. Bush knew every person and everything that was going on in that campaign? I don't think...

WALLACE:  No, but if...

CHRISTIE:  -- he was that kind of leader.

WALLACE:  -- but if George W. Bush was asked who are your foreign policy advisers and the first person he named was Carter Page, I would hold George W. Bush for knowing what Carter Page was up to.

CHRISTIE:  Well, yes, but I used Carter Page...

WALLACE:  Donald Trump introduced America to Carter Page by naming him in "The Washington Post" editorial board (INAUDIBLE)...

CHRISTIE:  Listen, he did and -- but the fact is, do you think that means that you know everything that person is doing...

WALLACE:  No, but I think it means you... CHRISTIE:  -- every minute of the day?

WALLACE:  -- know he's a (INAUDIBLE)...

CHRISTIE:  You're running for president.

WALLACE:  Well, but, OK, you know what?

CHRISTIE:  You're running for president, you know?

WALLACE:  (INAUDIBLE).  Take Carter Page out of it.

CHRISTIE:  Yes?

WALLACE:  Jared Kushner set up a back channel with Russia.  He suggested either meeting with Russians at a Russian embassy -- and the two theories that have been offered, one, are that he was -- the Russians have said that he was meeting as a representative of his family business, Kushner Industries.  And the White House has said he was meeting with them as a transition official. As a former prosecutor, which explanation is better for the White House?

CHRISTIE:  Well, I don't know which explanation is true, first. Secondly...

WALLACE:  Well, who do believe j

CHRISTIE:  Well, let me just...

WALLACE:  -- the Russians or the White House?

CHRISTIE:  -- say -- well, let me just say this, the fact is, I want to hear -- and I think most people want to hear from Jared Kushner.  And he has said he is absolutely willing to testify.  His lawyer has said that publicly. And so the fact is, listen, we're in a media atmosphere right now where everybody is frantic to get to the next story, the next Tweet, the next leak that leads to a story. What I've learned as a prosecutor is what you hear on TV, what you read in the newspapers can be true, but can also be either wrong or it can be incomplete. And so, as a prosecutor, what I know is everybody has got to take a deep breath, because we're, what, 140 days or so into this presidency? And I feel like we're...

WALLACE:  (INAUDIBLE).

CHRISTIE:  -- 140 years into this presidency. WALLACE:  Me, too.

CHRISTIE:  I mean people just...

WALLACE:  Well, let's...

CHRISTIE:  -- have to relax for a minute.

WALLACE:  So let's relax and run the tape.

CHRISTIE:  Yes.

WALLACE:  A long time ago, Jeff Sessions reconsider himself from the Russia investigation because I guess he filled out incomplete information about his own contacts with Russians. I've met one Russian and I never forgot it, so I think it's weird that so many people had so many meetings with so many Russians that they can't remember when they fill out background forms.  But whatever.

CHRISTIE:  Yes.

WALLACE:  What would you have done if you were the attorney general?

CHRISTIE:  Oh.

WALLACE:  Would you have reconsider yourself from the...

CHRISTIE:  Listen, I have no idea, because I don't know everything.  I don't know everything that went into Attorney General Sessions'...

WALLACE:  Your name was floated.

CHRISTIE:  -- decision.

WALLACE:  But your name was floated for AG.

CHRISTIE:  Sure.  Sure.  But I didn't meet with any Russians, so the fact is, I don't know what went into all of the things that he considered in order to recuse. But what I will tell you is this.  I have always believed that you should avoid recusal as much as you possibly can.  And I reconsider a few times as U.S. attorney in seven years.  But it had to be some very, very specific circumstances, for this reason. The people of the United States elect a president who then determines who his prosecutors are going to be, from the attorney general of the United States down to a U.S. attorney like me in New Jersey.  The people underneath you are typically career people.  And I think that the fact of the matter is that the person who should be making the most sensitive decisions should be the person who is designated to do so by the president of the United States. So what I would tell you is I don't know what analysis Attorney General Sessions went through, so I can't make a judgment.  I don't know what the ethics lawyers at Justice were telling him. I don't know if he had personal counsel, what they were telling him.  I don't know if there were other factors beyond what's been reported in the press, because remember, he didn't specifically say why.  He just said I'm going to recuse myself from anything else regarding the Russian investigations. So what I would tell you is that my approach in general is to be very reluctant to recuse, because once you do, you can't put that toothpaste back in the tube.

WALLACE:  Well, the other toothpaste you can't put back in the tube is something we learned today, that Comey asked not to be left alone with this president.  Now we don't understand -- we don't know the other side of the story.  But Comey was uncomfortable by being asked to stay back alone.  He asked his boss and the FBI director does at least on an org chart, report to the attorney general.

CHRISTIE:  He does.

WALLACE:  Should Sessions resign over refusing to give his FBI director the cover that he asked for?

CHRISTIE:  Well, first of all, we don't know that, because that wasn't even part of Comey's testimony, right? Comey didn't say...

WALLACE:  This was a written testimony that he asked...

CHRISTIE:  Did he say...

WALLACE:  -- he asked Sessions...

CHRISTIE:  -- him not to say?

WALLACE:  He asked Sessions not to leave him alone with the president.

CHRISTIE:  Well, listen, that's -- but Sessions is his boss.

WALLACE:  Right.

CHRISTIE:  Sessions gets to decide.

WALLACE:  Right.  And he asked his boss to protect him...

CHRISTIE:  Well, Sessions -- well, he asked him to stay in the room.  Sessions...

WALLACE:  He asked him not to be left alone with the president.

CHRISTIE:  Sessions gets to decide.  He's the boss, not Comey.

WALLACE:  If you were the attorney general and...

CHRISTIE:  (INAUDIBLE).

WALLACE:  -- your FBI director asked not to be left alone with Donald Trump...

CHRISTIE:  -- listen...

WALLACE:  -- would you...

CHRISTIE:  -- if I were the attorney general, OK, there would be a significantly different relationship than there is with this attorney general and I only say that because I've known Donald Trump for 15 years.  And Senator Sessions just got to know him in the past two. So the history that Donald Trump and I have, the president and I have, is significantly different. But what I'd tell you is, listen, right now, all anybody is hearing is what Jim has put out in his written testimony.  None of it's been subject to the scrutiny of people asking him questions.  There's lots of questions to be asked and I'm sure there will be a lot asked tomorrow. But guess what's going to happen? After tomorrow, Jim Comey's testimony is going to be over and we're going to be on to the next thing and the next thing after that and the next thing after that.  It doesn't mean that's insignificant tomorrow.  It's significant. But it also is in the context of everything the president is trying to accomplish and do here.  Let's not go crazy about this.  It is a moment. But what's really much more important is to look at what Donald Trump did today.  Now, everybody was arguing he was going to politicize the FBI, he was going to hire some politician who he could control and then he's going to control the FBI and he'll kill the investigation and all the rest of this, right? Well, first off, he appointed a deputy attorney general who showed the independence to appoint a special counsel.

WALLACE:  And we know he's mad about that.

CHRISTIE:  Now he's -- well, I don't know that he's mad about it.  He's never told me he's mad about it. But and now he's appointed or nominated an FBI director who everyone, Republican or Democrat, has commented on today, talked about his independence, his integrity, and all the rest.  Donald Trump made that decision.  No one else did.

WALLACE:  But nobody other than Donald Trump is going to step on his own good news cycle.  Even you could acknowledge that. He's going to Tweet something idiotic tomorrow and ruin his own good Chris Ray news cycle.

CHRISTIE:  We don't know that.  Listen, he could...

WALLACE:  Really?

CHRISTIE:  -- hold on.

WALLACE:  You want to make a bet that he won't...

CHRISTIE:  Wait a second.

WALLACE:  -- Tweet something inane tomorrow?

CHRISTIE:  What I'll tell you right now is the Tweet for Chris Ray came out about 9:00 this morning, if I remember, right?

WALLACE:  Right.

CHRISTIE:  Where are we now?

WALLACE:  So if...

CHRISTIE:  It's 4:30.

WALLACE:  It's 4:30.

CHRISTIE:  No, nothing yet.

WALLACE:  It might be (INAUDIBLE).

CHRISTIE:  Nothing yet.

WALLACE:  Do you really think he...

CHRISTIE:  And nothing yet.  OK.

WALLACE:  Were you going to tell him what to do? Are you going to give him the advice not to live Tweet the Comey testimony?

CHRISTIE:  I don't have -- listen, I don't -- any advice I give to the president, I keep between me and the president, because that's why I can continue to advise him when he needs it. The point, though, is that tomorrow, from what I understand, the president has got a pretty busy schedule.  And I don't know that he'll be (INAUDIBLE)...

WALLACE:  He's got a busy schedule, but he's (INAUDIBLE) hit ad worked up through the RNC to smear Jim Comey.

CHRISTIE:  Well, let me just say this.  You know...

WALLACE:  It's not like (INAUDIBLE)...

CHRISTIE:  Our...

WALLACE:  -- Zen (ph) about it.

CHRISTIE:  -- our political -- well, I don't think anybody has ever said -- I don't think Bill Clinton was Zen about having a special prosecutor for as long as he had one.  I don't think anybody would be Zen about it.  And quite frankly, I don't remember George W. Bush being Zen about the Valerie Plame investigation. Now, no one -- nobody in those positions feels like oh, hey, no problem.  And a special prosecutor throwing subpoenas on my staff, a special prosecutor and that hasn't even happened yet in this instance, as far as we know, into the White House or anyplace else. No one feels good about that, Nicolle.  That -- you know what that does to a workplace. So I don't expect the president to be Zen about it, and especially -- and I take the president at his word, that he had no interactions with the Russians or collusion or any of that.

WALLACE:  That he knows of.

CHRISTIE:  That -- well, that he -- he I'm saying.  I'm not talking about in his campaign.  I'm talking about he. And if that's the case and you're an innocent person and all this stuff is swirling around you and you're already doing the most complicated job in the world, I can understand not being Zen about that.  Yes. Now, I've also, you know, myself, gone through...

WALLACE:  But he has acknowledged that he doesn't know...

CHRISTIE:  -- stuff like this...

WALLACE:  -- whether his campaign did or not, so I mean I think that if it were you or if it were George W. Bush, you would want to know if the people on your payroll were in cahoots with the Russians.

CHRISTIE:  Well, by the way, you just (INAUDIBLE)...

WALLACE:  You would want to know.

CHRISTIE:  Of course I would.  And by the way, you just criticized Donald Trump, the president, for saying that Jim Comey -- hey, if any of the people around me... W

ALLACE:  I didn't criticize him...

CHRISTIE:  -- were involved in this...

WALLACE:  -- I asked you if you...

CHRISTIE:  Well, you asked if it was ethical or not... WALLACE:  I asked you if... CHRISTIE:  -- which is implied criticism.

WALLACE:  -- you know if Donald Trump knows whether his campaign was in cahoots with the Russians?

CHRISTIE:  Wait a second, no, but earlier, Nicolle, you were reading from, you know, the Comey testimony.  It might have been not on our segment, but the earlier one, where you said like can you believe that Donald Trump would ask Jim Comey if any of the people -- the satellite people around him had any problems? Well, you know, you're just saying he had -- he wants to know.  He asked Jim Comey. Now, you may say if he were a lawyer, that's unsophisticated.  But you shouldn't...

WALLACE:  I didn't pass any judgment...

CHRISTIE:  -- ask the FBI director...

WALLACE:  -- I just wondered why he didn't call a meeting or -- I mean, frankly, he could do it around the family dinner table and say (INAUDIBLE)...

CHRISTIE:  But you don't know whether he...

WALLACE:  -- son, daughter, did any -- son-in-law -- did any of you (INAUDIBLE)...

CHRISTIE:  Well, by the way...

WALLACE:  -- the Russians?

CHRISTIE:  -- by the way, you don't know that he hasn't.  And neither do I.  But the fact is that he asked Jim Comey something that I think is an appropriate question to ask, like if -- are any of these people around me involved? Because if they are, I want to get to the bottom of it.

WALLACE:  I want to know.  I agree with you.

CHRISTIE:  Right? And so I think the president, in the end, today, is such an important day in the Trump presidency.  The naming of Chris Ray is a huge day in the Trump presidency, because he did something that his critics never expected he would do after the firing of Jim Comey, and that was to pick a Class A, gold standard, former federal prosecutor, and someone who everybody in the defense bar, the prosecuting world, the investigative world, respects, for his independence, his integrity and his honesty.

WALLACE:  Was it your suggestion?

CHRISTIE:  I -- you know, I don't talk about what I -- I told you, Nicolle...

WALLACE:  All right j

CHRISTIE:  -- I don't tell you...

WALLACE:  (INAUDIBLE).

CHRISTIE:  I can't tell you what I talk to the president about.  But what I will say to you is, as you know, Chris Ray was my lawyer and when I was at the -- simply at the lowest point of my professional life, right after Bridgegate was revealed, he was the call I made. I know every good lawyer in New York and Washington, DC and Los Angeles.  And the first call I made and the only call I made was to Chris Ray.

WALLACE:  It sounds to me like he has your ear. Will you stay with us?

CHRISTIE:  Yes.

WALLACE:  All right.

CHRISTIE:  Sure. Why not?

WALLACE:  I'm going to take a quick break. The Governor will still be here on the other side.

(END)

MSNBC IS #1 IN A25-54 FOR WEEKDAY PRIME IN MAY, BEATING BOTH FOX NEWS AND CNN FOR 1ST TIME IN NEARLY 17 YEARS

“The Rachel Maddow Show” Wins May as the #1 Show Across All Cable News in A25-54, Scores Historic Monthly Win in Both Demo and Total Viewers at 9pm

“The 11th Hour with Brian Williams” is #1 at 11pm in A25-54 and Total Viewers

MSNBC Dayside Delivers Highest-Ever Monthly Delivery in MSNBC’s 20-Year History in Total Viewers, Posts More Total Audience and A25-54 Growth than the Competition

“The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” Ties “Hannity” for #1 in A25-54, Again Beats CNN in Both A25-54 and Total Viewers

“Morning Joe” Surges to More Than 1 Million Total Viewers for the 1st Time, Beating CNN for 27th Straight Month; Posts Highest Non-Election Month in A25-54

NEW YORK (May 31, 2017) – MSNBC finished the month of May as the #1 cable news network in A25-54 for weekday prime (M-F 8-11pm) according to Nielsen, beating both FOX News and CNN in the daypart for the 1^st time since September 2000. In A25-54, weekday prime averaged 532,000 viewers (vs. CNN’s 455,000 and FOX News’ 524,000), the daypart’s best rating since October 2012 and best cable news share ever.

MSNBC’s weekday primetime programming also outperformed CNN in total viewers for the 6th straight month, posting its 2nd best audience delivery and best cable news share ever. In total viewers, weekday prime averaged 2.2 million viewers (vs. CNN’s 1.3 million and FOX News’ 2.5 million), the closest MSNBC has been to FOX News since June 2001.  Among all cable networks, MSNBC ranked #3 in total viewers for weekday prime, behind only TNT and FOX News.

MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” was the #1 show across all cable news in the key A25-54 demo. “The Rachel Maddow Show” scored a monthly win over CNN and FOX News in total viewers at 9pm – the first time ever in MSNBC’s 20-year history – and for A25-54 it was the 3rd straight monthly win. The program averaged 2.6 million total viewers and 638,000 A25-54 viewers. The re-air of “The Rachel Maddow Show” at 12am was also #1 in total viewers.

“The 11th Hour with Brian Williams” finished the month as the #1 show at 11pm in both total viewers and A25-54. This is the first time MSNBC beat CNN and FOX News in total viewers during the time period since August 2001. “The 11th Hour” averaged 1.6 million total viewers and 523,000 viewers A25-54, the best demo delivery in the time period since April 2003.

For the month of May, MSNBC dayside (M-F 9am-5pm) delivered an all-time high in total viewers. Dayside also posted the highest-ever monthly 9am-5pm cable news share for total viewers since September 2000. Dayside averaged 864,000 total viewers and 165,000 A25-54 viewers. Dayside also saw more growth than the competition in total viewers (+94% vs. CNN’s +49% and FOX News’ +24%) and in A25-54 viewers (+82% vs. CNN’s +76% and FOX News’ +50%).

“The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” tied “Hannity” on FOX News for #1 in A25-54.  The program bested CNN across the board at 10pm, beating CNN in in A25-54 for the 3rd consecutive month and in total viewers for the 24th straight month. “The Last Word” averaged 2.2 million viewers and 523,000 viewers A25-54. This is the time period’s best A25-54 delivery since April 2003.

“Morning Joe” at 6am hit an all-time high passing more than one million viewers for the first time ever and beating CNN’s third-place “New Day” for the 27th straight month, the program’s best streak ever. “Morning Joe” delivered 1.1 million total viewers, the program’s best total viewer delivery ever. In A25-54, “Morning Joe” averaged 254,000 viewers. This is the program’s highest A25-54 delivery ever in a non-election month, and the 2nd best month in A25-54 (after November 2012).

MSNBC led CNN for the 4th straight month in M-F 6am-2am in total viewers. This was the network’s best total viewer delivery in the time period ever, and the best A25-54 delivery since November 2012. Among all cable networks, MSNBC finished #2 in total viewers from M-F 6am-2am, behind only FOX News and ahead of Nickelodeon and CNN.

Four other MSNBC programs surpassed CNN in total viewers: “MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle” at 9am, “Andrea Mitchell Reports” at 12pm, “Hardball with Chris Matthews” at 7pm and “All In with Chris Hayes” at 8pm.

NOTE: May to-date ratings are based on Nielsen Live+Same data day for 5/1/17-5/28/17. Individual show data represents regular programming only, excluding specials and breaking news.

MAY 2017 HIGHLIGHTS

MSNBC Total Day (M-Su 6am-6am)

• More people watched MSNBC than CNN for the 3rd straight month.
• MSNBC delivered more growth than the competition in the key A25-54 demographic (+78% vs. FOX News’ +40% and CNN’s +58%) and in total viewers (+92% vs. CNN’s +41% and FOX News’ +22%) compared to May 2016.   
• MSNBC total day averaged 925,000 total viewers – the best total viewer delivery in the daypart ever – and 221,000 viewers A25-54 – the best demo delivery in the daypart since November 2012. 

MORNING JOE (M-F 6-9am)

• “Morning Joe” (6-9am) hit an all-time high passing more than one million viewers for the first time ever and beating CNN’s third-place “New Day” for the 27th straight month, the program’s best streak ever.
• “Morning Joe” was up +81% in total viewers (vs. CNN’s +58% and FOX News’ +50%) over May 2016. In A25-54, “Morning Joe” was up +73% from May 2016 (vs. FOX News’ +63%). This is the program’s highest A25-54 delivery ever in a non-election month, and the 2^nd best month in A25-54 (after November 2008).
• “Morning Joe” averaged 1.1 million total and 254,000 viewers A25-54.

DAYSIDE (M-F 9am-5pm)

• MSNBC dayside posted the highest-ever monthly 9am-5pm cable news share for total viewers since September 2000.
• Dayside averaged 867,000 total viewers, the best audience delivery in the time period ever, and 167,000 A25-54 viewers.
• Dayside also saw more growth than the competition in total viewers (+94% vs. CNN’s +49% and FOX News’ +24%) and in A25-54 viewers (+82% vs. CNN’s +76% and FOX News’ +50%).
• “MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle” (9-10am) beat CNN in total viewers for the 4^th straight month and showed more growth than the competition in total viewers (+92% vs. CNN’s +55% and FOX News’ +31%). The show also posted a growth of +86% in A25-54 over May 2016.
• “MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle” averaged 916,000 total viewers, the best total viewer delivery in the hour ever, and 186,000 viewers A25-54, the best A25-54 delivery in the hour since November 2012.
• “Andrea Mitchell Reports” (12-1pm) topped CNN in total viewers in the time period for the 2^nd straight month.
• The program was up +93% (vs. CNN’s +43% and FOX News’ +25%) in total viewers and +73% in A25-54 (vs. FOX News’ +53%) over May 2016.
• “Andrea Mitchell Reports” averaged 850,000 total viewers, the best audience delivery in the hour ever, and 159,000 viewers A25-54.

EARLY EVENING (M-F 5-8pm)

• “MTP Daily with Chuck Todd” (5-6pm) delivered more growth than the competition, posting gains of +96% in total viewers (vs. CNN’s +47% and FOX News’ -9 %) and +99% in A25-54 (vs. CNN’s +65% and FOX News’ +18%).
• “MTP Daily” averaged 1.2 million total viewers – the time period’s best total viewer delivery since November 2012 – and 229,000 viewers A25-54 – the time period’s best A25-54 delivery since January 2013.
• “For the Record with Greta” (6-7pm) posted more growth than the competition in both total viewers (+92% vs. CNN’s +65% and FOX News’ +12%) and the A25-54 demo (+94% vs. CNN’s +83% and FOX News’ +33%) compared to May 2016.
• “For the Record” averaged 1 million total viewers – the hour’s best total viewer delivery since October 2016 – and 225,000 viewers A25-54 – the hour’s best A25-54 delivery since October 2016.
• “Hardball with Chris Matthews” (7-8pm) topped third-ranked CNN among total viewers for the 10^th straight month. 
• “Hardball” delivered more growth than the competition and was up +95% in total viewers (vs. CNN’s +75% and FOX News’ +13%) and +115% in A25-54 (vs. CNN’s +101% and FOX News’ +39%) over May 2016.
• "Hardball" averaged 1.7 million total viewers – the best total viewer delivery in the time period ever – and 382,000 viewers A25-54 – the best A25-54 delivery in the time period since November 2012.

WEEKDAY PRIME (M-F 8-11pm)

• MSNBC weekday prime was #1 in A25-54, beating FOX News and CNN in the daypart for the 1^st time since September 2000.
• In A25-54, weekday prime averaged 532,000 viewers (vs. CNN’s 455,000 and FOX News’ 524,000), the daypart’s best rating since October 2012 and best cable news share ever.
• In total viewers, weekday prime averaged 2.2 million viewers (vs. CNN’s 1.3 million and FOX News’ 2.5 million), the closest MSNBC has been to FOX News since June 2001. Weekday prime outperformed CNN in total viewers for the 6th straight month, posting its 2nd best audience delivery and best cable news share ever.
• Weekday prime more than doubled the growth of FOX News and CNN in both A25-54 viewers (+118% vs. CNN’s +51% and FOX News’ +17%) and in total viewers (+113% vs. CNN’s +34% and FOX News’ +2%) over May 2016.
• Among all cable networks, MSNBC ranked #3 in total viewers for weekday prime (behind only TNT and FOX News) and #6 in A25-54.

• “All In with Chris Hayes” (8-9pm) beat CNN in total viewers for the 6th straight month.
• “All In” also posted more growth than the competition in both total viewers (+116% vs. CNN’s +60% and FOX News’ -10%) and the A25-54 demo (+121% vs. CNN’s +92% and FOX News’ +8%) compared to May 2016.
• “All In” averaged 1.8 million total viewers – the time period’s best total viewer delivery since November 2008 – and 442,000 viewers A25-54 – the time period’s best A25-54 delivery since February 2009.
• “The Rachel Maddow Show” (9-10pm) was the #1 show across all cable news in the key A25-54 demo.
• “Maddow” scored a monthly win over FOX News and CNN in total viewers at 9pm – the first time ever in MSNBC’s 20-year history – and for A25-54 it was the 3rd straight monthly win.
• The program averaged 2.6 million total viewers and 638,000 A25-54 viewers.
• “The Rachel Maddow Show” posted more year-over-year growth than its competition in total viewers (+120% vs. CNN’s +52% and FOX News’ -5%) and in A25-54 (+125% vs. CNN’s +72% and FOX News’ +9%) over May 2016.
• The re-air of “The Rachel Maddow Show” at 12am was also #1 in total viewers.
• “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” (10-11pm) tied FOX News’ “Hannity” for #1 in A25-54.  “The Last Word” also beat CNN across the board, topping third-ranked CNN in total viewers for the 24th straight month and in A25-54 demo for the 3^rd month in a row.
• “The Last Word” posted more year-over-year growth than its competition in total viewers (+126% vs. CNN’s +69% and FOX News’ +16%) and in A25-54 (+140% vs. CNN’s +89% and FOX News’ +16%) over May 2016.
• “The Last Word” averaged 2.2 million viewers and 523,000 viewers A25-54. This is the time period’s best A25-54 delivery since April 2003.

THE 11TH HOUR WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS (M-F 11-12am)

• “The 11th Hour with Brian Williams” finished the month as the #1 show at 11pm in both total viewers and A25-54. This is the first time MSNBC beat CNN and FOX News in total viewers during the time period since August 2001.
• “The 11th Hour” more than doubled the growth of CNN and FOX News in total viewers (+185% vs. CNN’s +64% and FOX News’ +9%) and in A25-54 (+174% vs. CNN’s +72% and FOX News’ +10%).
• “The 11th Hour” averaged 1.6 million total viewers and 405,000 viewers A25-54, the best demo delivery in the time period since April 2003.

AM JOY (Sa-Su 10am-12pm)

• For the 3rd straight month, Saturday editions of “AM Joy” topped CNN in total viewers during the time period. “AM Joy” more than doubled the growth of its competition in total viewers (+121% vs. CNN’s +19% and FOX News’ +45%). “AM Joy” also posted more growth than the competition in A25-54 demo (+119% vs. CNN’s +60% and FOX News’ +55%) over May 2016. The Saturday edition averaged 1.02 million total viewers and 211,000 viewers A25-54. 
• Sunday editions outperformed CNN and FOX News in total viewer growth (+131% vs. CNN’s +47% and FOX News’ +54%) and A25-54 growth (+170% vs. CNN’s +54% and FOX News’ +67%). The Sunday edition averaged 822,000 total viewers and 228,000 viewers A25-54.

HISTORIC WEEK: FOR 1ST TIME EVER, MSNBC IS #1 IN WEEKDAY PRIME IN BOTH ADULTS 25-54 AND TOTAL VIEWERS

MSNBC WEEKDAY PRIME WINS TWO WEEKS IN A ROW IN ADULTS 25-54 FOR FIRST TIME EVER

MSNBC #2 MOST-WATCHED NETWORK IN ALL OF CABLE FOR PRIME (BEHIND TNT, which aired several NBA playoff games)

NEW YORK (May 22, 2017) – For the week of May 15, MSNBC finished as the #1 cable news network in weekday prime (M-F 8-11pm) in both Adults 25-54 and total viewers, according to Nielsen – beating both Fox News and CNN in both key demos in the same week for the first time in the network’s history.

It was also the second week in a row MSNBC’s weekday prime won the key advertising demographic (Adults 25-54), furthering gains in a dominant month for the network. This was also the first time in the network’s history that MSNBC’s weekday prime schedule has ever won the key demo two weeks in a row.

MSNBC was the #2 most watched network in all of cable for prime during the week of May 15 - only behind TNT, which carried several NBA playoff games – with an average of 2.44 million viewers each night.  

For the week of May 15, in total viewers, MSNBC weekday prime averaged 2.4 million. For Adults 25-54, MSNBC averaged 611,000 viewers (vs. CNN’s 589,000 and FOX News’ 497,000).

It was the second time ever MSNBC has won weekday prime in total viewers. The first win came during the week of September 3, 2012, during the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Four programs were #1 for the week in total viewers in their respective time periods. “The Rachel Maddow Show,” “Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell”, “The 11th Hour” and the midnight re-air of “The Rachel Maddow Show,” beating both FOX News and CNN. “The Rachel Maddow Show” was the top ranked non-sports program in all of cable for the week.

Two programs were #1 in the key advertising demo of Adults 25-54 in their time periods: “The Rachel Maddow Show” at 9pm, and “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” at 10pm.

Source: Nielsen 5/15-19

###

MSNBC Overtakes FOX News and CNN in the Coveted A25-54 Demo at 9pm, 10pm, 11pm and 12am

More Total Viewers Watched MSNBC Than FOX News and CNN at 9pm, 11pm and 12am

On Thursday MSNBC Beat CNN with Biggest Daily Lead in Eight Years 

NEW YORK (May 15, 2017) – For the week of May 8, MSNBC finished as the #1 cable news network in weekday prime (M-F 8-11pm) in the key A25-54 demo, according to Nielsen. This is the first weekly win for MSNBC in A25-54 since the week of December 29, 2008 (the first week of 2009 ratings).

In total viewers, MSNBC weekday prime averaged 2.4 million – almost double that of CNN’s 1.3 million and just behind FOX News’ 2.6 million.  For A25-54, MSNBC averaged 590,000 viewers (vs. CNN’s 464,000 and FOX News’ 524,000).

Three programs were #1 in A25-54 in their respective time periods: “The Rachel Maddow Show” at 9pm, “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” at 10pm, and “The 11th Hour with Brian Williams” at 11pm. The re-air of “The Rachel Maddow Show” also topped FOX News and CNN at 12am.

“Maddow,” “The 11th Hour” and the midnight re-air of “Maddow” were also #1 among total viewers, beating FOX News and CNN.

On Thursday, the day of NBC News’ exclusive interview with President Trump, MSNBC beat CNN by over 400K viewers in the 6a-2a daypart.  It was MSNBC’s biggest daily lead over CNN in 8 years. MSNBC also ranked #1 across the board in A25-54 from 7pm - midnight. 

For the week among all cable nets, MSNBC ranked #2 in total viewers for prime and M-F 6a-2a.

###

MSNBC Again Delivers More Viewers Than CNN in Total Day for 2nd Straight Month

“Morning Joe” Continues Total Viewer Victory Over Third-Place CNN for 26th Straight Month

MSNBC Tops CNN in Weekday Prime Among Total Viewers for 5th Consecutive Month; Ranks #2 in Prime for All Cable for 3rd Straight Month

MSNBC Weekday Prime Again Outperforms CNN in A25-54

“The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” Bests CNN in Total Viewers and A25-54 at 10pm

MSNBC Surpasses CNN Among Total Viewers at 9am, 12pm, 7pm, 8pm, and 11pm

MSNBC Dayside Growth in Total Viewers Continues to Outpace the Competition

NEW YORK (May 2, 2017) – For the month of April 2017, “The Rachel Maddow Show” was the #1 show across cable news among regularly scheduled shows in the key A25-54 demo (“The O’Reilly Factor” now off the air) and again finished as the #1 cable news show in A25-54 for the 9pm time period, beating both FOX News and CNN for the 2nd month in a row, according to Nielsen. Maddow also topped “Tucker Carlson Tonight” at 8pm, “The Five” at 9pm and “Hannity” at 10pm in A25-54 for the month. “The Rachel Maddow Show” averaged 2.4 million total viewers and 562,000 viewers A25-54, posting more year-over-year growth than its competition in total viewers (+98% vs. CNN’s +20% and FOX News’ +16%) and in A25-54 (+89% vs. CNN’s +28% and FOX News’ +30%). Year to-date, “The Rachel Maddow Show” is the fastest growing primetime show in cable news.

MSNBC delivered more viewers than CNN in total day (M-Su 6am-6am), beating CNN in the time period for the 2nd straight month.

“Morning Joe” at 6am continued its total viewer victory over CNN’s third-place “New Day” for the 26th straight month. “Morning Joe” delivered 907,000 total viewers (the show’s 2nd highest total ever), posting more growth than CNN (+52% vs. CNN’s +42%) and 210,000 A25-54 viewers (+34%) over April 2016. 

MSNBC’s weekday primetime programming (M-F 8-11pm) topped CNN in total viewers and in A25-54, marking prime’s 5th consecutive month over CNN in total viewers and 2nd straight month over CNN in A25-54. In addition, MSNBC was the 2nd most-watched cable network overall in primetime for the 3rd straight month, behind only FOX News. MSNBC prime’s year-to-year growth more than tripled the competition in total viewers (+86% vs. CNN’s -18% and FOX News’ +25%) and delivered more growth in A25-54 (+67% vs. CNN’s -9% and FOX News’ +39%) compared to April 2016.  Year to-date, MSNBC is the fastest growing network in all of cable for total viewers in primetime. Year to-date, MSNBC has also added nearly 800,000 viewers over 2016, by far the most of any cable network and +74% more than second-place FOX News.   

MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” at 10pm bested CNN across the board during that time period, beating CNN in in A25-54 for the 2nd consecutive month and in total viewers for the 23rd straight month.

Five other MSNBC programs topped CNN and delivered higher year-over-year growth than the competition in total viewers: “MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle” at 9am, “Andrea Mitchell Reports” at 12pm, “Hardball with Chris Matthews” at 7pm, “All In with Chris Hayes” at 8pm, and “The 11th Hour with Brian Williams” at 11pm.

Heading into its 2nd year since undergoing a strategic shift from opinion programming to breaking news, MSNBC dayside (M-F 9am-5pm) saw more growth than the competition in total viewers (+61% vs. CNN’s +27% and FOX News’ +37%).

On the weekends, the Saturday edition of “AM Joy” (Sa-Su 10am-12pm) topped CNN in total viewers during the time period for the 2nd straight month. Additionally, “AM Joy” outperformed the competition in both total viewer and A25-54 growth on Saturdays and Sundays over April 2016.

NOTE: April 2017 ratings are based on Nielsen Live+Same data day for 3/27/17-4/30/17. Individual show data represents regular programming only, excluding specials and breaking news.

APRIL 2017 HIGHLIGHTS

MSNBC TOTAL DAY (M-Su 6am-6am)

• MSNBC total day topped CNN in total viewers during the time period for the 2nd straight month.
• MSNBC delivered more growth than the competition in total viewers (+66% vs. CNN’s +17% and FOX News’ +35%) and outperformed CNN in the key A25-54 demographic (+40% vs. CNN’s +30%) compared to April 2016.   
• MSNBC total day averaged 823,000 total viewers and 186,000 viewers A25-54. 

MORNING JOE (M-F 6-9am)

• “Morning Joe” (6-9am) continued its winning streak over CNN’s third-place “New Day” in total viewers for the 26th straight month.
• “Morning Joe” was up +52% in total viewers (vs. CNN’s +42%) and +34% in A25-54 over April 2016.
• “Morning Joe” averaged 907,000 total viewers (the show’s second highest total ever – ahead of CNN’s 623,000) and 210,000 viewers A25-54.

DAYSIDE (M-F 9am-5pm)

• MSNBC dayside’s year-to-year growth in total viewers saw more growth than the competition, posting gains of +61% (vs. CNN’s +27% and FOX News’ +37%). 
• In the A25-54 demo, MSNBC dayside posted gains of +34% over April 2016.
• “MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle” (9-10am) beat CNN in total viewers and showed more growth than the competition in total viewers (+65% vs. CNN’s +35% and FOX News’ +38%). The show also posted a growth of +37% in A25-54 over April 2016.
• “MSNBC Live with Stephanie Ruhle” averaged 825,000 total viewers and 152,000 viewers A25-54.
• “Andrea Mitchell Reports” (12-1pm) topped CNN in total viewers and was up +65% (vs. CNN’s +23% and FOX News’ +40%) in total viewers and +38% in A25-54 over April 2016.
• “Andrea Mitchell Reports” averaged 759,000 total viewers and 138,000 viewers A25-54.

EARLY EVENING (M-F 5-8pm)

• “MTP Daily with Chuck Todd” (5-6pm) delivered more growth than the competition, posting gains of +60% in total viewers (vs. CNN’s +30% and FOX News’ +27%) and +48% in A25-54 (vs. CNN’s +45% and FOX News’ +40%).
• “MTP Daily” averaged 1.01 million total viewers and 184,000 viewers A25-54.
• “For the Record with Greta” (6-7pm) posted more growth than FOX News in both total viewers (+54% vs. CNN’s +32% and FOX News’ +22%) and the A25-54 demo (+51% vs. FOX News’ +36%) compared to April 2016.
• “For the Record” averaged 879,000 total viewers and 178,000 viewers A25-54.
• “Hardball with Chris Matthews” (7-8pm) topped third-ranked CNN among total viewers for the 9th straight month. 
• “Hardball” delivered more growth than the competition and was up +61% in total viewers (vs. CNN’s +23% and FOX News’ +27%) and +59% in A25-54 (vs. CNN’s +43% and FOX News’ +57%) over April 2016.
• "Hardball" averaged 1.48 million total viewers and 311,000 viewers A25-54.

WEEKDAY PRIME (M-F 8-11pm)

• MSNBC weekday prime ranked #2 ahead of CNN in total viewers and in A25-54, marking prime’s 5th consecutive month over CNN in total viewers and 2nd straight month over CNN in A25-54.
• Prime was also the 2nd most-watched network in all of cable for the 3rd straight month, behind only FOX News.
• MSNBC prime’s year-to-year growth more than tripled the competition in total viewers (+86% vs. CNN’s -18% and FOX News’ +25%) and delivered more growth in A25-54 (+67% vs. CNN’s -9% and FOX News’ +39%) compared to April 2016.
• Year to-date, MSNBC is the fastest growing network in all of cable for total viewers in primetime. Year to-date, MSNBC has also added nearly 800,000 viewers over 2016, +74% more than second-place FOX News.   
• MSNBC weekday prime averaged 2.01 million total viewers (ahead of CNN’s 1.09 million) and 453,000 viewers A25-54 (ahead of CNN’s 397,000). 
• “All In with Chris Hayes” (8-9pm) beat CNN in total viewers for the 5th straight month.
• “All In” also posted more growth than the competition in both total viewers (+83% vs. CNN’s +11% and FOX News’ +15%) and the A25-54 demo (+71% vs. CNN’s +23% and FOX News’ +32%) compared to April 2016.
• “All In” averaged 1.62 million total viewers and 364,000 viewers A25-54.
• “The Rachel Maddow Show” (9-10pm) again finished as the #1 cable news show in A25-54 for the 9pm time period, beating both FOX News and CNN for the 2nd month in a row.
• Maddow was also the #1 show across cable news among regularly scheduled shows in A25-54 (“The O’Reilly Factor” now off the air).
• Maddow easily beat CNN at 9pm and also beat “Tucker Carlson Tonight” at 8pm, “The Five” at 9pm and “Hannity” at 10pm in A25-54 for the month.
• “The Rachel Maddow Show” posted more year-over-year growth than its competition in total viewers (+98% vs. CNN’s +20% and FOX News’ +16%) and in A25-54 (+89% vs. CNN’s +28% and FOX News’ +30%) over April 2016.
• Year to-date, “The Rachel Maddow Show” is the fastest growing primetime show in cable news.
• “The Rachel Maddow Show” averaged 2.40 million viewers and 562,000 viewers A25-54.
• “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” (10-11pm) beat CNN across the board, topping third-ranked CNN in total viewers for the 23rd straight month and in A25-54 demo for the 2nd month in a row.
• “The Last Word” posted more growth than the competition in both total viewers (+100% vs. CNN’s +20% and FOX News’ +42%) and the A25-54 demo (+72% vs. CNN’s +36% and FOX News’ +42%) compared to April 2016.
• The Last Word” averaged 1.96 million total viewers and 420,000 viewers A25-54.

THE 11TH HOUR WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS (M-Th 11-11:30pm)

• “The 11th Hour with Brian Williams” beat CNN in the half hour among total viewers for the 9th straight month.
• “The 11th Hour” posted more growth than CNN and FOX News in total viewers (+146% vs. CNN’s +34% and FOX News’ +29%) and in A25-54 (+90% vs. CNN’s +51% and FOX News’ +30%).
• “The 11th Hour” averaged 1.39 million total viewers and 328,000 viewers A25-54.

AM JOY (Sa-Su 10am-12pm)

• For the 2nd straight month, Saturday editions of “AM Joy” topped CNN in total viewers during the time period. “AM Joy” more than tripled the growth of its competition in total viewers (+121% vs. CNN’s +27% and FOX News’ +39%). “AM Joy” also posted more growth than the competition in A25-54 demo (+98% vs. CNN’s +56% and FOX News’ +55%). The Saturday edition averaged 964,000 total viewers and 198,000 viewers A25-54. 
• Sunday editions outperformed CNN and FOX News in total viewer growth (+131% vs. CNN’s +30% and FOX News’ +40%) and A25-54 growth (+120% vs. CNN’s +43% and FOX News’ +62%). The Sunday edition averaged 762,000 total viewers and 187,000 viewers A25-54.

# # #

For more information contact: 

Lorie Acio 

o: 212-664-6733

e: Lorie.Acio@nbcuni.com

Errol Cockfield 

o: (212) 664-3534

e: Errol.Cockfield@nbcuni.com

About MSNBC:

MSNBC is the premier destination for breaking news and in-depth analysis of the headlines through commentary and informed perspectives. Reaching more than 96 million households worldwide, MSNBC offers a full schedule of live news coverage, influential voices, and award-winning documentary programming – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. MSNBC also delivers breaking news and information across a variety of platforms including www.msnbc.com and MSNBC on Sirius XM radio. The MSNBC App for iPhone, iPad and iTouch also provide a customizable user experience with live streaming, clips of select MSNBC programming, and additional show content. Watch MSNBC anywhere: On Demand, online or across mobile and connected TVs.  MSNBC is part of the NBCUniversal News Group, a division of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies, which is owned by Comcast Corporation. For more corporate information, visit www.nbcuniversal.com.

NEW YORK (April 28, 2017) – MSNBC today announced that NBC News political analyst Nicolle Wallace will expand her role to host a new program that will air weekdays from 4-5pm ET. The New York City-based program will premiere in May.

Wallace, a former White House Communications Director, will tackle the latest political developments and conduct interviews with leading newsmakers. MSNBC host and political correspondent Steve Kornacki will continue his presence in the hour, providing in-depth discussion and analysis. The broadcast builds on the momentum of MSNBC dayside (M-F 9am-5pm), which delivered the network’s biggest total viewer audience ever in the first quarter of 2017.

Wallace will continue to appear frequently on TODAY as a political analyst. She will also contribute more special reports to the show, like her revealing series from the field over the last few months, "In Trump They Trust," in which Wallace traveled the country speaking to the voters who elected Donald Trump. She also serves as a fill-in host for MSNBC’s “The 11^th Hour with Brian Williams.”

“Nicolle played a huge role for us during the presidential election and through the first 100 days. We’re thrilled she’s stepping into this spot with Steve at her side,” said Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC. “Nicolle and Steve both distinguished themselves during the campaign with the smart insights our audience has come to expect.”

"There's never been a more exciting or stunning time in American politics, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to have a daily conversation with our viewers about every dramatic twist and turn," Wallace said. "I'm humbled by all of the opportunities MSNBC and NBC News have given me to report on the 2016 campaign and its ripple effects."

Wallace contributed regularly to special reports and major events for both NBC News and MSNBC during the 2016 presidential election, including the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress, and other major national stories. She also conducted exclusive one-on-one conversations with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at the height of the 2016 campaign.

Before joining NBC News as an analyst, Wallace served as a co-host of ABC’s “The View.” Previously, she was White House Communications Director to President George W. Bush. She also served as senior adviser to the McCain-Palin campaign in 2008.

Wallace is a California native and graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Wallace is a best-selling author of Eighteen Acres, It’s Classified, and Madam President.

Last night’s MSNBC two-hour special “The Trump | Putin Power Play” finished #2, beating CNN’s Town Hall and regular programming in both total viewers and among the Adults 25-54 demo audience, according to Nielsen.

During the primetime special, Brian Williams and Chris Matthews were joined by Andrea Mitchell, David Remnick and a slate of leaders from Capitol Hill and specialists in the field of U.S.-Russia relations. Richard Engel also joined live from Moscow.

Additionally, “11th Hour with Brian Williams” at 11pmET beat CNN in total viewers and the key 25-54 news demo.

Wednesday 03/01/2017

According to Nielsen research

MORE PEOPLE WATCHED MSNBC THAN CNN IN FEBRUARY

MSNBC M-F Prime Finishes #2 Among All Cable Networks in Total Viewers, Beats CNN for Third Straight Month

MSNBC M-F Total Day Ranks #3 for All Cable, Outperforms CNN in Total Viewers

“Morning Joe” Ranks #2 in Time Period for All Cable, Continues Total Viewer Win Over Third-Place CNN for 24th Straight Month

“The Rachel Maddow Show” Ranks #2 for Total and Demo Audiences, Bests CNN for the 45th Straight Month

MSNBC Also Beats CNN Among Total Viewers at 7pm, 8pm, 10pm, and 11pm

NEW YORK (February 28, 2017) – For the month of February 2017, more people tuned in to MSNBC than CNN. MSNBC weekday prime (M-F 8-11pm) finished #2 in total viewers among all cable networks, beating CNN for the third straight month. MSNBC prime delivered higher growth than the competition, posting a gain of +64% among total viewers compared to February 2016 (vs. -29% for CNN and +30% for FOX News).

MSNBC also ranked #3 in total day (M-F 6am-2am) audience among all cable networks in total viewers. MSNBC’s full day growth far outpaced the competition, delivering the third most growth in all of cable and posting a gain of +60% compared to February 2016 (vs. +16% for CNN and +34% for FOX News).

Year-to-date through February 2017, MSNBC is the fastest-growing cable network among all cable in weekday prime, up +63% in total viewers over 2016 (vs. -6% for CNN and +28% for FOX News).

More viewers tuned in to “Morning Joe” (M-F 6-9am) than to CNN’s “New Day” for February 2017 for the 24th consecutive month. “Morning Joe” also ranked #2 among all cable networks in the time period for total viewers. “Morning Joe” delivered 849,000 total viewers, the second highest ever for the show and for the network in the time period.  

“The Rachel Maddow Show” (M-F 9-10pm) saw significant growth across the board and finished #2 in both total viewers and the key news adults 25-54 demographic. “The Rachel Maddow Show” delivered MSNBC’s and the show’s biggest total viewer audience ever in the time period.  “The Rachel Maddow Show” also beat CNN’s regularly scheduled programs for the 45th straight month.  The show posted its best demo delivery in the time period since November 2012.

Since making a strategic shift to breaking news, MSNBC dayside (M-F 9am-5pm) continues to perform strongly, growing faster than both CNN and FOX News in total viewers.  MSNBC is up +62% (vs. +51% for CNN and +41% for FOX News) compared to February 2016. MSNBC dayside posted year-to-year gains of +51% among viewers A25-54.

Four more MSNBC programs each beat CNN among total viewers: “Hardball with Chris Matthews” at 7pm, “All In with Chris Hayes” at 8pm, “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” at 10pm, and “The 11th Hour with Brian Williams” at 11pm.

NOTE: February 2017 ratings are based on Nielsen Live+Same data day for 1/30-2/26/17. Individual show data represents regular programming only, excluding election night, specials and breaking news.

FEBRUARY 2017 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS MORNING JOE (M-F 6-9am)

• “Morning Joe” ranked #2 among all cable networks in the time period for total viewers, continuing its winning streak over CNN’s third-place “New Day” for the 24th month in a row.
• “Morning Joe” was up +38% in total viewers (847,000 vs. CNN’s 649,000) and +25% in A25-54 (193,000) over last year.
• “Morning Joe” posted its second best total viewer delivery ever for the show and for MSNBC in the time period.

DAYSIDE (M-F 9am-5pm)

• MSNBC dayside’s year-to-year growth in total viewers continues to soar over the competition, posting gains of +62% (vs. CNN’s +51% and FOX News’ +41%). 
• In the key A25-54 demo, MSNBC dayside posted gains of +51% over February 2016.
• “Andrea Mitchell Reports” (M-F 12-1pm) delivered more growth than the competition in total viewers. The program was up +71% in total viewers (vs. CNN’s +50% and FOX News’ +48%) and +59% in the demo (vs. FOX News’ +55%).
• “Andrea Mitchell Reports” averaged 772,000 total viewers and 156,000 viewers A25-54.

EARLY EVENING (M-F 5-8pm)

• “MTP Daily with Chuck Todd” was up +73% in total viewers and +76% in the demo over February 2016.
• “MTP Daily” averaged 1,048,000 total viewers and 202,000 viewers A25-54.
• “For the Record with Greta,” which debuted on MSNBC in January 9, 2017, outpaced the growth of CNN and FOX News in total viewers (+60% vs. CNN’s +57% and FOX News’ +27%). In the A25-54 demo, “For the Record” posted more growth than FOX News (+80% vs. FOX News’ +36%) compared to February 2016.
• “For the Record” averaged 902,000 total viewers and 198,000 viewers A25-54.
• “Hardball with Chris Matthews” topped third-ranked CNN among total viewers for the seventh straight month. 
• “Hardball” was up +56% in total viewers and +69% in the demo over February 2016.
• "Hardball" averaged 1.45 million total viewers and 302,000 viewers A25-54.

WEEKDAY PRIME (M-F 8-11pm)

• MSNBC weekday prime finished #2 in total viewers among all cable networks, beating CNN for the third straight month in February 2017.
• MSNBC prime delivered higher growth than the competition, posting gains of +64% among total viewers compared to February 2016 (vs. -29% for CNN and +30% for FOX News). This is the second highest growth among all cable networks (behind Oxygen’s +65%).
• In the A25-54 demo, MSNBC was up +48% compared to February 2016 (vs. CNN’s -17% and FOX News’ +38%).
• “All In with Chris Hayes” ranked #2 in total viewers for the third straight month and posted the best program delivery in the hour since November 2008.
• “All In” delivered more growth than its competition in total viewers (+91% vs. CNN’s +34% and FOX News’ +29%) and the A25-54 demo (+88% vs. CNN’s +68% and FNC’s +45%).
• “All In” averaged 1.6 million total viewers and 359,000 viewers A25-54.
• “The Rachel Maddow Show” extended its winning streak and ranked #2 in total viewers and the A25-54 demo, beating CNN’s regular programming for the 45th straight month. This is the program’s best demo delivery in the time period since November 2012.
• “The Rachel Maddow Show” delivered more growth than FOX News in both total viewers (+99% vs CNN’s +70% and FOX News’ +31%) and the A25-54 demo (+93% vs. FOX News’ +55%) over February 2016. This is the program’s best total viewer delivery in the hour ever, and the best demo delivery since November 2012.
• “The Rachel Maddow Show” averaged 2.3 million total viewers and 528,000 viewers A25-54.
• “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” again ranked #2 in total viewers, beating CNN’s regular programming for the 21st straight month.
• “The Last Word” delivered more growth than FOX News in both total viewers (+107% vs CNN’s +82% and FOX News’ +49%) and the A25-54 demo (+95% vs. FOX News’ +55%) over February 2016. This is the program’s best total viewer delivery in the hour ever, and the best demo delivery since November 2012.
• “The Last Word” averaged 1.9 million total viewers and 423,000 viewers A25-54.

THE 11TH HOUR WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS (M-Th 11-11:30pm)

• “The 11th Hour with Brian Williams” ranked #2 in the half hour ahead of CNN among total viewers for the 7th straight month.
• The program’s growth surged over the competition, nearly delivering a six-fold increase of FOX News and CNN in total viewers (+169% vs. CNN’s +22% and FOX News’ +24%). In the demo, “The 11th Hour” nearly tripled the competition in growth (+121% vs. CNN’s +34% and FOX News’ +26%).
• “The 11th Hour” averaged 1.6 million total viewers and 360,000 viewers A25-54.

AM JOY (Sa-Su 10am-12pm)

• Saturday editions of “AM Joy” more than tripled the growth of its competition in total viewers (+121% vs. CNN’s +32% and FNC’s +22%). “AM Joy” also posted more growth than CNN and FOX News in the A25-54 demo (+85% vs. CNN’s +74% and FOX News’ +36%). The Saturday edition averaged 981,000 total viewers and 210,000 viewers A25-54. 
• Sunday editions posted more growth than CNN and FOX News in both total viewers (+87% vs. CNN’s +48% and FOX News’ +29%) and the A25-54 demo (+94% vs. CNN’s +69% and FOX News’ +28%). The Sunday edition averaged 810,000 total viewers and 215,000 viewers A25-54.

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MSNBC Prime Beats CNN in Total Viewers, Ranks 6th Among All Cable Networks

MSNBC Weekday Prime Growth Outpaces the Competition in Key A25-54 Demo

“Morning Joe” Tops CNN for 23rd Month in a Row, Posts Best January Ever for Time Period

NEW YORK (January 31, 2017) – For the month of January 2017, MSNBC racked up the most growth for total viewers in cable news across key dayparts. MSNBC outpaced the competition in total day M-Su 6a-6a (+53% vs. CNN’s +37% and FNC’s +45%), M-F prime 8-11pm (+62% vs. CNN’s +34% and FNC’s +27%), and dayside M-F 9am-5pm (+60% vs. CNN’s +36% and FNC’s +48%).

In the key news A25-54 demographic, MSNBC’s weekday prime M-F 8-11pm was up +54%, topping CNN (+38%) and Fox News (+35%) for the month.

Among all cable networks, MSNBC ranked 6th in M-F prime 8-11pm for total viewers (up from 16th place in January 2016), beating 9th place CNN (1,432,836 vs. 1,239,580).  In the A25-54 demo, MSNBC ranked #22 among all cable networks (up from #33 in January 2016). For full day M-F 6a-2a, MSNBC ranked 10th overall in total viewers (up from #17) and #22 in the A25-54 demo (up from #37 in January 2016).

Now in its 10th year on MSNBC, “Morning Joe” continued its winning streak over CNN’s third-place “New Day” in total viewers, besting CNN for the 23rd month in a row. “Morning Joe” was up +24% in total viewers (625,000 vs. CNN’s 488,000) and +13% in A25-54 over last year, posting its best January total viewer delivery ever for any show on MSNBC during the time period.

MSNBC’s shift to breaking news in dayside (M-F 9am-5pm) last year continues to pay strong dividends as the daypart’s year over year growth in total viewers continues to soar over the competition, posting gains of +60% (vs. CNN’s +36% and FNC’s +48%). In the A25-54 demo, MSNBC dayside posted gains of +49% over January 2016.

NOTE: Data based on Nielsen Live+Same Day for the period 12/26/16-1/29/17. Individual show data represents regular programming only.

JANUARY 2017 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS MORNING JOE (M-F 6-9am)

• “Morning Joe” continued its winning streak over CNN’s third-place “New Day” in total viewers for the 23rd month in a row.
• “Morning Joe” was up 24% in total viewers (625,000 vs. CNN’s 488,000) and +13% in A25-54 over last year.
• “Morning Joe” posted its best January total viewer delivery ever for any show during the time period.
• “Morning Joe” averaged 625,000 total viewers (ahead of CNN’s 488,000) and 143,000 viewers A25-54.

DAYSIDE (M-F 9am-5pm)

• MSNBC dayside’s year-to-year growth in total viewers continues to soar over the competition, posting gains of +60% (vs. CNN’s +36% and FNC’s +48%). 
• In the A25-54 demo, MSNBC dayside posted gains of +49% over January 2016.
• “Andrea Mitchell Reports” (M-F 12-1pm) delivered more growth than CNN and Fox News in both total viewers and A25-54 demo. “Andrea Mitchell Reports” was up +56% in total viewers (vs. CNN’s +29% and FNC’s +32%) and +41% in the demo (vs. CNN’s +36% and FNC’s +40%).
• “Andrea Mitchell Reports” averaged 625,000 total viewers and 120,000 viewers A25-54.

EARLY EVENING (M-F 5-8pm)

• “MTP Daily with Chuck Todd” was up +39% in total viewers and +42% in the demo over January 2016.
• “MTP Daily” averaged 770,000 total viewers and 143,000 viewers A25-54.
• “For the Record with Greta,” which debuted on MSNBC in January 9, 2017, far outpaced the growth of CNN and Fox News in both total viewers (+61% vs. CNN’s +34% and FNC’s +42%) and the A25-54 demo (+83% vs. CNN’s +39% and FNC’s +64%) compared to January 2016.
• “For the Record” averaged 829,000 total viewers and 181,000 viewers A25-54.
• “Hardball with Chris Matthews” topped third-ranked CNN among total viewers for the sixth straight month. 
• “Hardball” was up +29% in total viewers and +44% in the demo over January 2016.
• "Hardball" averaged 1.155 million total viewers and 236,000 viewers A25-54.

WEEKDAY PRIME (M-F 8-11pm)

• MSNBC’s weekday prime growth M-F 8-11pm outpaced CNN and Fox News in total viewers (+62% vs. CNN’s +34% and FNC’s +27%) and the A25-54 demo (+54% vs. CNN’s +38% and FNC’s +35%).
• Of all cable networks, MSNBC ranked 6th overall for M-F prime 8-11pm in total viewers for January 2017 (up from #16 in January 2016), beating 9th place CNN (1,432,836 vs. 1,239,580 viewers). 
• In the A25-54 demo, MSNBC ranked #22 (up from #33 in January 2016).
• “All In with Chris Hayes” delivered more growth than its competition in total viewers (+54% vs. CNN’s +33% and FNC’s +22%) and the A25-54 demo (+57% vs. CNN’s +42% and FNC’s +36%).
• “All In” averaged 1.267 million total viewers and 276,000 viewers A25-54.
• “The Rachel Maddow Show” extended its winning streak and ranked #2 in total viewers, beating CNN’s regular programming for the 44th straight month.
• “The Rachel Maddow Show” was up double digits and posted more growth than Fox News in both total viewers (+71% vs FNC’s +35%) and the A25-54 demo (+69% vs. FNC’s +68%) over January 2016.
• “The Rachel Maddow Show” averaged 1.814 million total viewers and 412,000 viewers A25-54.
• “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” again ranked #2 in total viewers, beating CNN’s regular programming for the 20th straight month.
• “The Last Word” was up +69% in total viewers and +54% in the demo compared to January 2016.
• “The Last Word” averaged 1.451 million total viewers and 296,000 viewers A25-54.

THE 11TH HOUR WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS (M-Th 11-11:30pm)

• “The 11th Hour with Brian Williams” ranked #2 in the half hour ahead of CNN among total viewers for the 6th straight month.
• “The 11th Hour” posted more growth than CNN and Fox News in total viewers (+119% vs. CNN’s +105% and FNC’s +40%) and nearly doubled that of Fox News in the demo (+77% vs. FNC’s +38%).
• “The 11th Hour” averaged 1.17 million total viewers and 248,000 viewers A25-54.

AM JOY (Sa-Su 10am-12pm)

• Saturday editions of “AM Joy” doubled the growth of its competition in total viewers (+111% vs. CNN’s +16% and FNC’s +54%). “AM Joy” also posted more growth than CNN in the A25-54 demo (+63% vs. CNN’s +45%). The Saturday edition averaged 820,000 total viewers and 176,000 viewers A25-54. 
• Sunday editions posted more growth than CNN and Fox News in both total viewers (+136% vs. CNN’s +38% and FNC’s +49%) and the A25-54 demo (+82% vs. CNN’s +68% and FNC’s +80%). The Sunday edition averaged 729,000 total viewers and 180,000 viewers A25-54.

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For more information contact: 

Lorie Acio

o: 212-664-6733

e: Lorie.Acio@nbcuni.com

Errol Cockfield

o: (212) 664-3534

e: Errol.Cockfield@nbcuni.com

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About MSNBC:

MSNBC is the premier destination for breaking news and in-depth analysis of the headlines through commentary and informed perspectives. Reaching more than 96 million households worldwide, MSNBC offers a full schedule of live news coverage, influential voices, and award-winning documentary programming – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. MSNBC also delivers breaking news and information across a variety of platforms including www.msnbc.com and MSNBC on Sirius XM radio. The MSNBC App for iPhone, iPad and iTouch also provide a customizable user experience with live streaming, clips of select MSNBC programming, and additional show content. Watch MSNBC anywhere: On Demand, online or across mobile and connected TVs.  MSNBC is part of the NBCUniversal News Group, a division of NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies, which is owned by Comcast Corporation. For more corporate information, visit www.nbcuniversal.com.

 Veteran Broadcaster to Host “For the Record with Greta,” Weeknights at 6 p.m. ET on MSNBC

JANUARY 5, 2017 – Veteran broadcaster Greta Van Susteren will join MSNBC, it was announced today by Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC.

Van Susteren will host “For the Record with Greta,” which will air weeknights from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. ET. The program will debut on Monday, January 9, based in Washington, D.C. It replaces the timeslot of Bloomberg’s political television show “With All Due Respect,” which ended in early December.

“For the Record” will provide news coverage and analysis of the day’s top headlines spanning politics and beyond. The early evening broadcast will build on MSNBC’s strategic shift to a breaking news focus during the day and, along with “MTP Daily” and “Hardball,” will provide one of the key bridges to primetime. MSNBC marked its most-watched year ever in 2016, and was the fastest growing top 100 cable network in weekday prime.

“Greta is a true pro with a proven record of tough journalism,” said Griffin.  “Her broad range of experience and sharp news judgment will be of great value to MSNBC as we build on our momentum going into a new year and a new administration.”

“I’m thrilled to start my next chapter at MSNBC,” Van Susteren said. “The network is the right destination for the smart news and analysis I hope to deliver every day, and I look forward to joining the talented journalists and analysts I respect there.”

A 25-year cable news veteran, Van Susteren joins MSNBC from Fox News Channel, where she hosted “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” for 14 years. Previously, Van Susteren spent more than a decade at CNN, where she served as a legal analyst and co-host of “Burden of Proof” and hosted the news program “The Point.” She is an experienced breaking news anchor and has traveled the world - including Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, North Korea, Sudan, and more - often with Presidents, Secretaries of State and Defense, and other leaders.

Van Susteren was part of the investigative team that won a first place National Headliner Award for the "Attack on America." Additionally, her legal analysis and contribution to the election coverage in 2000 earned her the American Bar Association’s Presidential Award for Excellence in Journalism. Prior to her career in journalism, Van Susteren was a criminal defense and civil trial attorney.

Van Susteren graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in economics, with distinction, from the University of Wisconsin. She earned a Juris Doctor and a Master of Law from Georgetown Law. She is the first Stuart Stiller Fellow at Georgetown Law Center and was awarded honorary Doctorates of Law from Georgetown and Stetson Law School. In 2016, the American News Women’s Club honored Van Susteren with the prestigious 22nd annual Excellence in Journalism award. 

Van Susteren is the co-author of My Turn at The Bully Pulpit: Straight Talk About The Things That Drive Me Nuts. She lives with her husband John P. Coale in Washington, D.C.

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MEGYN KELLY JOINS NBC NEWS

Kelly to Anchor New Daytime News Program & Primetime Magazine Show

JANUARY 3, 2017 -- Megyn Kelly, one of America's most prominent news anchors, will join NBC News, it was announced today by Andrew Lack, Chairman of the NBCUniversal News Group.

Kelly will become anchor of a new one hour daytime program that she will develop closely with NBC News colleagues. The show will air Monday through Friday at a time to be announced in the coming months.

As part of the multi-year agreement, Kelly will also anchor a new Sunday evening news magazine show and will become an important contributor to NBC’s breaking news coverage as well as the network's political and special events coverage.

Details about both of Kelly's news programs will be unveiled in the coming months.

“Megyn is an exceptional journalist and news anchor, who has had an extraordinary career” Lack said. “She’s demonstrated tremendous skill and poise, and we’re lucky to have her.”

Kelly joins NBC News at a time when all four broadcasts in the division – "TODAY," "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt," "Meet the Press," and "Dateline NBC" – are leading in the key 25-54 news demo and the coveted 18-49 demo in the 2016-17 season to date. All four shows also won those same two demos in the November sweep period, the first time that has happened since 2002.

Kelly has consistently delivered top ratings while maintaining a uniquely strong connection with her viewers and an important voice on social media. Since 2013, Kelly has anchored FOX News Channel's (FNC) The Kelly File, which she helped to create. The Kelly File is consistently the number one news program in overall viewers on cable news and first among the critical 25-54 demo audience. It is also the number two show in all of cable news. She joined FNC in 2004 as a Washington-based correspondent.

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ADDITIONAL BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Kelly is known for her ability to focus on breaking stories as well as in-depth investigative reports, newsmaker interviews and human interest stories. Kelly uses her skills as a former litigator to press for answers and develop angles as events unfold. Previously at FNC, Kelly helped create and anchored her own two-hour solo afternoon program, America Live and before that, she also helped create and co-anchored America's Newsroom with Bill Hemmer. Each show became huge ratings successes for Fox News.

Throughout her tenure with FNC, Kelly has anchored breaking news and has reported live from most major national political events of the past decade. Some of the major stories she's covered include presidential and congressional elections since 2004, the Boston marathon bombings, the San Bernardino terror attack, the Fort Hood terror attack, and the Orlando nightclub attack. She provided breaking news coverage of the election of Pope Francis and the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, C.T., 2012's Superstorm Sandy, the deadly EF5 tornado in Joplin, M.O and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Kelly has interviewed a wide range of national and international newsmakers, including both President-elect Donald Trump and President Barack Obama.

She has used her legal background to anchor wall-to-wall coverage of all Supreme Court confirmation hearings since 2004, and to advance coverage of scores of prominent national legal cases, including Supreme Court cases on Obamacare, gay marriage, gun rights and eminent domain, and the trials of Scott Peterson, Casey Anthony, Michael Jackson, Scooter Libby, Senator Tom Delay and Governor Rod Blagojevich. She reported from Blacksburg, V.A. in the immediate aftermath of the Virginia Tech campus massacre and from Durham, N.C., where she notably covered the Duke University rape case involving three of the school's lacrosse players and broke new details that would ultimately help exonerate the defendants.

During the 2016, 2014 and 2012 presidential elections and midterm elections, Kelly served as co-anchor of FNC's America's Election HQ. She has moderated multiple presidential primary debates, including most notably the first Republican primary debate in August 2015.

Before joining FNC, Kelly served as a general assignment reporter for WJLA-TV (ABC 7) in Washington, D.C. where she covered national and local stories of interest, including the 2004 presidential race and the D.C. sniper case. Prior to her career in television news, Kelly practiced law as a corporate litigator at Jones Day for seven years and was an associate in the Chicago office of Bickel & Brewer LLP for two years. In 2016, Kelly was named to Vanity Fair's New Establishment List, Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment Power 100, and Adweek's The Hot List as News Anchor of the Year. She was named Mediaite's Most Influential News Anchor. In January 2016, Kelly became only the second news anchor in history to be on the cover of Vanity Fair. Kelly was listed as one of TIME magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2014. She is also the author of “Settle for More,” her memoir, which debuted at number one on the New York Times best seller list.

She earned her B.A. with honors in Political Science from Syracuse University and a J.D. with honors from Albany Law School, where she served as editor of the Albany Law Review.

Kelly lives in New York City with her husband Doug Brunt, a novelist, and their three children.

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ABOUT NBC NEWS

More Americans watch NBC News than any news organization in the world. NBC News is a global leader in news across all broadcast and digital platforms. Its leading and award-winning television news broadcasts include NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, TODAY, Meet the Press, and Dateline NBC, as well as primetime specials and breaking news reports. The rapidly-growing NBC News Digital Group, along with the SiriusXM TODAY Show Radio channel, provide continuous content to consumers wherever they are, whenever they want it. NBC News also operates Peacock Productions, an award-winning in-house production company, and the NBC NewsChannel affiliate news service.

NBC News is part of the NBCUniversal News Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast Corporation. For more information about NBCUniversal, please visit www.NBCUniversal.com.

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For more information contact:

Mark Kornblau NBC News Group o: (212) 664-2007 e: Mark.Kornblau@nbcuni.com

Ali Zelenko NBC News o: (212) 664-6677 e: Ali.Zelenko@nbcuni.com

Erika Masonhall NBC News o: (212) 664-3230 e: erika.masonhall@nbcuni.com

MSNBC DELIVERS MOST-WATCHED YEAR EVER

MSNBC Shatters Ratings Records with Biggest Total Day and Dayside Audiences Ever

MSNBC is Fastest-Growing Top 100 Cable Network in Weekday Prime

MSNBC Posts Significantly Higher Year-Over-Year Growth than CNN or FOX News Across Multiple Key Dayparts and Demographics

“Morning Joe” and “The Rachel Maddow Show” Mark Biggest Total and Demo Audiences in Network’s 20-Year History; Both Top Third-Place CNN for Seventh Straight Year in Total Viewers

DECEMBER 28, 2016 -- MSNBC marked its most-watched year ever in 2016, hitting all-time highs in multiple dayparts including Total Day, Dayside, Morning News, Weekday Prime, as well as several key shows and demographics.

Year over year, MSNBC was the fastest-growing top 100 cable network in weekday prime with gains of +95% in total viewers and +134% in the A25-54 demo (vs. CNN: +77% in total viewers, +81% in A25-54; FOX: +31% in total viewers, +37% in A25-54). MSNBC Weekday Prime (M-F 8-11p) ranked #8 among all cable networks in total viewers and delivered its biggest demo audience since 2008.

In Total Day (M-Su 6a-6a), MSNBC delivered its biggest total viewer audience in the network’s 20-year history and best A25-54 demo audience since 2012 (excl. Olympics). MSNBC posted significantly higher year-to-year Total Day growth than either CNN or FOX News in both total viewers and the key A25-54 demo (MSNBC: +72% in total viewers, +72% in A25-54; CNN: +54% in total viewers, +56% in A25-54; FOX: +29% in total viewers, +35% in A25-54).

MSNBC Dayside (M-F 9a-5p) also posted the biggest total viewer audience in the network’s history and best demo delivery since 2008. Fueled by the strategic shift to live, breaking news, MSNBC Dayside more than doubled the competition in year-to-year growth among both total viewers and the demo (MSNBC: +88% in total viewers, +133% in A25-54; CNN: +42% in total viewers, +42% in A25-54; FOX: +20% in total viewers, +31% in A25-54).

“Morning Joe” (M-F 6-9a) delivered MSNBC’s biggest total viewer and demo audiences in the time period ever (demo: tied with 2012) and beat third-place CNN in both categories. This marks Morning Joe’s seventh straight year topping CNN in total viewers.

“The Rachel Maddow Show” (M-F 9-10p) delivered MSNBC’s biggest total viewer and demo audiences in the time period ever. “Maddow” beat third-place CNN’s regular programming among total viewers for the seventh consecutive year.

“Andrea Mitchell Reports,” “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell,” “The 11th Hour with Brian Williams,” and “AM Joy” all delivered the biggest-ever total audiences in their respective time periods.

NOTE: 2016 year-end ratings are based on Nielsen Live+Same data day for 12/28/15-12/25/16. Individual show data represents regular programming only, excluding conventions, debates, election night and breaking news.

2016 BROADCAST YEAR PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Total Day (M-Su 6a-6a)

• 2016 marked MSNBC’s biggest Total Day total viewer audience in the network’s 20-year history and best A25-54 demo average since 2012 (excl. Olympics).
• MSNBC’s year-to-year growth far outpaced the competition with gains of +72% in total viewers (vs. +54% for CNN and +29% for FOX News) and +72% in the demo (vs. +56% for CNN and +35% for FOX News) compared to 2015.

Weekday Prime (M-F 8-11p)

• MSNBC was the fastest-growing top 100 cable network in weekday prime among both total viewers and the A25-54 demo year over year. 
• MSNBC weekday prime delivered its biggest A25-54 demo audience since 2008.
• MSNBC ranked #8 out of all cable networks in total viewers.
• MSNBC posted significantly more year-to-year growth than the cable news competition, with gains of +95% in total viewers (vs. +77% for CNN and +31% for FOX News) and +134% in the demo (vs. +81% for CNN and +37% for FOX News) compared to 2015.
• MSNBC drew its biggest share of the cable news demo audience since 2013, gaining 7 share points over 2015.

Monday-Sunday Prime (M-Su 8-11p)

• MSNBC drew its biggest total viewer M-Su prime audience ever and best demo delivery since 2012.

Morning Joe (M-F 6-9a)

• “Morning Joe” beat third-place CNN in both total viewers and the demo, marking the show’s seventh consecutive total viewer win over CNN.
• “Morning Joe” delivered MSNBC’s biggest total viewer and demo audiences in the 6-9a time period ever (note: demo tied with 2012).
• “Morning Joe” averaged 677,000 total viewers (ahead of CNN’s 508,000) and 166,000 viewers A25-54 (ahead of CNN’s 159,000).

Dayside (M-F 9a-5p)

• MSNBC Dayside drew its biggest total viewer audience ever and best demo average since 2008. 
• MSNBC Dayside more than doubled the competition in year-to-year growth with gains of +88% in total viewers (vs. +42% for CNN and +20% for FOX News) and +133% in the demo (vs. +42% for CNN and +31% for FOX News) compared to 2015.
• MSNBC Dayside averaged 567,000 total viewers and 121,000 viewers A25-54. 
• “Andrea Mitchell Reports” (M-F 12-1p) delivered MSNBC’s biggest total viewer audience in the time period ever and best demo average since 2008. “AMR” averaged 558,000 total viewers and 122,000 viewers A25-54.

MTP Daily with Chuck Todd (M-F 5-6p)

• “MTP Daily” posted the 5pm hour’s biggest total viewer and demo audiences since 2012. 
• “MTP Daily” averaged 771,000 total viewers and 151,000 viewers A25-54.

“With All Due Respect” / “MSNBC Live” (M-F 6-7p)

• “WADR” and MSNBC’s live programming delivered the 6pm hour’s biggest total viewer audience since 2012 and biggest demo audience since 2013. 
• For the year, “WADR” and other 6pm programming averaged 694,000 total viewers and 146,000 viewers A25-54.

“Hardball with Chris Matthews” (M-F 7-8p)

• “Hardball” delivered MSNBC’s biggest total viewer audience in the 7pm hour ever and best demo audience since 2008.
• “Hardball” beat third-place CNN in total viewers for the 7th straight year. 
• “Hardball” averaged 1.079 million total viewers (ahead of CNN’s 948,000) and 221,000 viewers A25-54.

“All In with Chris Hayes” (M-F 8-9p)

• “All In” delivered the 8pm hour’s biggest total viewer audience since 2009 and best demo audience since 2010.
• “All In” averaged 1.089 million total viewers and 251,000 viewers A25-54.

“The Rachel Maddow Show” (M-F 9-10p)

• “The Rachel Maddow Show” delivered MSNBC’s biggest total viewer and demo audiences in the 9pm hour ever.
• “The Rachel Maddow Show” beat third-place CNN in both total viewers (7th straight year) and the demo. 
• “The Rachel Maddow Show” averaged 1.444 million total viewers (ahead of CNN’s 1.036) and 339,000 viewers A25-54 (ahead of CNN’s 327,000).

“The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” (M-Th 10-11p)

• “The Last Word” delivered MSNBC’s biggest total viewer audience in the 10pm hour ever and best demo average since 2012.
• “The Last Word” beat third-place CNN for the seventh consecutive year. 
• “The Last Word” averaged 1.252 million total viewers (ahead of CNN’s 940,000) and 277,000 viewers A25-54.

“The 11th Hour with Brian Williams” (M-Th 11-11:30p)

• “The 11th Hour,” which launched September 6, 2016, beat third-place CNN in total viewers.
• “The 11th Hour” delivered MSNBC’s biggest total viewer audience in the time period ever. 
• To date, "The 11th Hour" is averaging 1.181 million total viewers (ahead of CNN's 945,000) and 276,000 viewers A25-54.
• For the year, “The 11th Hour” and other 11pm programming averaged 876,000 total viewers (ahead of CNN’s 849,000) and 218,000 viewers A25-54.

AM Joy (Sa-Su 10a-12p)

• “AM Joy,” which launched May 7, 2016, delivered MSNBC’s biggest total viewer audience in the time period ever. 
• Saturday editions of “AM Joy” delivered the best demo average since 2008; Sunday editions delivered the best demo average since 2003. 
• For the year, Saturday editions of “AM Joy” and other 10a-12p programming averaged 631,000 total viewers and 144,000 viewers A25-54. Sunday editions of “AM Joy” and other 10a-12p programming averaged 509,000 total viewers and 131,000 viewers A25-54.

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