NBC hosts meltdown over Ronna McDaniel's hiring: Morning Joe stars demand executives explain decision to bring on former RNC chief and ban her from coming on their show

NBC hosts are objecting on-air to the hiring of former Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel after she soft-launched her new contributor gig on Sunday.

The vocal objection continued Monday on MSNBC's Morning Joe where the two main hosts, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, said they would not welcome McDaniel on their show.

It came after McDaniel appeared on NBC Meet the Press with Kristen Welker for a heated discussion over her previous stances as RNC chairwoman and her seemingly contradicting stances now that she was hired as a contributor with the left-leaning network.

Longtime NBC host Chuck Todd joined Welker for a panel after McDaniel's interview and said that their bosses owe her 'an apology' for putting the former RNC head on the show.

'We learned about the hiring when we read it in the press on Friday,' Scarborough lamented at the top of his show on Monday morning. 'We weren't asked our opinion of the hiring but, if we were, we would have strongly objected to it for several reasons.'

MSNBC Morning Joe hosts Mika Brzezinski (left) and Joe Scarborough (right) complained they didn't know about their parent company hiring former RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and urge NBC bosses to reconsider 

McDaniel soft-launched her new NBC News contributor gig with an appearance on Meet the Press on Sunday morning with Kristen Welker

His co-host and wife Brzezinski added: 'To be clear, we believe NBC news should seek out conservative Republican voices to provide balance in their election coverage, but it should be conservative Republicans, not a person who used her position of power to be an anti-democracy election denier.'

'We hope NBC will reconsider its decision. It goes without saying that she will not be a guest on Morning Joe in her capacity as a paid contributor,' she said.

A video reel then played of McDaniel's various comments questioning the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

NBC announced last week that McDaniel was joining the network as a contributor after she stepped down from her role leading the RNC after an intense pressure campaign from former President Trump and his allies who wanted her gone.

Trump's daughter-in-law Lara, who is married to Eric Trump, was elected as the new co-chair of the GOP during the RNC's spring meeting in Texas earlier this month, and North Carolina RNC Chair Michael Whatley was elected to replace McDaniel.

McDaniel admitted on Sunday she 'took one for the team' because it was her job to voice the opinion of the entire RNC. She claims this included fighting Trump's claims the 2020 election was not legitimate and that convicted January 6 prisoners should be let out of jail.

But Welker questioned why McDaniel could now discuss this but was not willing to make the same claims when she was chairwoman at the RNC for years.

'I do not think people who committed violent acts on January 6 should be freed,' McDaniel told Welker.

'So you disagree with that. He's been saying that for months, Ronna. Why not speak out earlier? Why just speak out about that now?' the NBC host questioned.

'When you're the RNC chair, you kind of take one for the whole team right now,' she replied, saying that now 'I get to be a little bit more myself, right?'

'This is what I believe,' she continued. 'I don't think violence should be in our political discourse, Republican or Democrat. And I disagree with that. I agree with him on a whole host of other things.'

'I don't think we should be freeing people who violently attacked Capitol Hill police officers and attack the Capitol.'

NBC host Chick Todd (left) said in a panel on Meet the Press on Sunday that the bosses owe Welker an apology after having McDaniel premier her new contributor gig on her show

It followed a tense back-and-forth regarding the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and the repeated claims that the results were not legitimate due to widespread fraud and interference.

McDaniel claims that while there were 'problems' in 2020, she does believe that Biden is the legitimately elected president.

During an on-air panel after Welker's discussion with McDaniel, her predecessor was visibly upset with the fact the former RNC chairwoman was hired by NBC News in the first place – and then put on his colleague's show in her new show.

'Let me deal with the elephant in the room – I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation. Because I don't know what to believe,' Todd said.

'She is now a paid contributor by NBC News, so I have no idea whether any answers she gave to you was because she didn't want to mess up her contract,' he continued. 'She wants us to believe that she was speaking for the RNC when the RNC was paying for it.'

'So she has credibility issues that she still has to deal with. Is she speaking for herself or is she speaking on behalf of who's paying her?'