In a Wednesday interview with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie – aired in full on Thursday morning – NBC's Today co-host Matt Lauer grilled the potential 2016 contender on the year-old Bridgegate controversy: "...we could be talking during a week where indictments could be handed down in what has now become known as Bridgegate....How much, in real terms, has Bridgegate tarnished you Governor?"
Matt Lauer
By Curtis Houck | April 15, 2015 | 11:12 PM EDT
On Wednesday night, ABC and CBS continued to ignore the latest development in the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal while NBC moved on to instead ask Republican Governor Chris Christie (N.J.) if “your moment” had “passed” as the Republican front-runner for the 2016 presidential nomination due to the Bridgegate scandal.
By Kyle Drennen | April 14, 2015 | 2:26 PM EDT
In interviews with ABC and NBC following his Monday presidential announcement, Florida Senator Marco Rubio was treated to nearly identical questions pressing him on why he dared compete with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush for the 2016 Republican nomination.
By Kyle Drennen | April 13, 2015 | 11:18 AM EDT
Amid a plethora of coverage on Monday's NBC Today fawning over Hillary Clinton's announcement of her presidential campaign, co-host Matt Lauer led off a discussion with Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd by wondering: "What's she running on? What's her message? If the Hillary Clinton campaign could write the headline on the front page of major newspapers this morning, what would they write?"
By Jeffrey Meyer | April 7, 2015 | 11:13 AM EDT
On Tuesday, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul became the second Republican to officially enter the 2016 presidential race, following Senator Ted Cruz’s announcement on March 23. However, on the morning of their respective presidential announcements, the “Big Three” (ABC, CBS, and NBC) networks went out of their way to label Cruz a “conservative” 13 times, compared to zero conservative labels for Senator Paul.
By Rich Noyes | April 6, 2015 | 9:01 AM EDT
This week liberal reporters welcomed Ted Cruz to the 2016 presidential race by blasting him as "hardline," "right-wing," "radical," "dumb," "scary," "dangerous" and "slimy" -- all in the first 24 hours. And: the networks hype the "growing outrage" over Indiana's religous freedom law, with one pundit saying that Republicans who came out in support Mike Pence were having a "premature intolerance ejaculation."
By Kyle Drennen | March 27, 2015 | 11:01 AM EDT
Introducing a White House puff piece on Friday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer proclaimed: "Now to a young woman who might just be one of the most impressive figures in Washington. We're talking about the President's newly-appointed receptionist."
By Kyle Drennen | March 24, 2015 | 11:31 AM EDT
In interviews with all three broadcast networks on Tuesday, newly-announced Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz was pressed on whether he would abandon his conservative principles in a White House run. Matt Lauer: "In your short time in the Senate you've developed a reputation as a guy who does not back down, who will not compromise....Will you bring that brand of no-compromise to the White House if you're elected?"
By Joseph Rossell | March 23, 2015 | 4:21 PM EDT
Tax Day is rapidly approaching and most Americans say the federal tax system “should be completely changed.”
The Pew Research Center recently conducted a poll that found a majority of Americans supported “Congress completely changing the federal tax system.” Pew announced the findings March 19, which showed 59 percent of its respondents agreed with a total overhaul of federal taxation.
By Kyle Drennen | March 19, 2015 | 11:45 AM EDT
Thursday's NBC Today seized on President Obama's seeming advocacy for mandatory voting in the United States during a town hall event on Wednesday, with fill-in news anchor Tamron Hall declaring: "The President said the U.S. should be making it easier to vote, not harder. He says if everyone voted, it would completely change the political map."
By Kyle Drennen | March 11, 2015 | 11:29 AM EDT
To its credit, Wednesday's NBC Today actually brought on Republican Senator Rand Paul to react to Hillary Clinton's Tuesday press conference regarding the email scandal. However, co-host Matt Lauer used the second half of the interview to parrot Clinton's attacks on the GOP: "...she talked about this open letter that you and forty-six other Republican senators wrote and then signed and sent off to the leaders of Iran during very delicate negotiations over this nuclear deal. She said that you and the others were either trying help Iran or undermine...the commander-in-chief."
By Kyle Drennen | March 3, 2015 | 11:13 AM EST
In an interview with former Obama White House press secretary and current NBC political analyst Robert Gibbs on Tuesday's Today, co-host Matt Lauer saw big problems for Hillary Clinton in the wake of revelations that she used a private email account during her tenure as secretary of state: "It provides a lay-up, doesn't it Robert, for her critics who say this is all about a lack of transparency as she prepares for a run in 2016, that you can't go back and look at those emails?"