In October of 2020, just weeks before the presidential election, NBC’s Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie conducted what was supposed to be a voter “town hall” event with then-President Trump. Instead, it devolved into a vicious ambush in which the anchor relentlessly attacked Trump from the left. On Tuesday, the NBC host was rewarded for abandoning journalistic standards with an Emmy for “Outstanding Live Interview.”
“We have in our presence an Emmy and an Emmy award winner. That Emmy, that was awarded last night to NBC news and Savannah,” fellow co-host Hoda Kotb gushed at the top of the Today show’s 7:30 a.m. ET half hour on Wednesday. She then explained: “So that came for outstanding live interview, it’s the town hall with then-President Trump. It was less than a month before the 2020 presidential election.”
Kotb further swooned: “...it’s a big award, it’s a nice award, and it will look beautiful on your mantle. And I said she – before she even got that award, before any hardware came into your life, you were already like A-number one.”
Co-host Craig Melvin chimed in with more praise for the wildly partisan hit job that was designed to skew the 2020 election in Joe Biden’s favor: “...of all of the Emmys that have been awarded, perhaps the most hard-earned and well-deserved. People don’t fully appreciate how hard it is not just to interview a sitting president but to fact check him or her live in person, and you did it masterfully.”
Guthrie praised her “great team” for helping engineer the hostile forum, declaring: “So it’s for NBC News and we’re really – I’m proud of everybody, yeah.”
This was not the first time Guthrie’s leftist media colleagues hailed her anti-Trump campaign effort. Just days after the election, The New York Times featured a glowing profile of the journalist in which it proclaimed the town hall to be “a crucial turning point” in the presidential race and applauded Guthrie for having “humbled, even humiliated” Trump.
It wasn’t just that NBC blasted Trump in one town hall, it was that a week later, Joe Biden was treated to nothing but softballs in another town hall. The network double standard was blatant and shameless.
The job of reporters is not destroy or boost political candidates, it’s too inform the public of where those candidates stand on issues. The idea that Guthrie would receive an award for her nasty performance just proves how meaningless such media prizes are in the first place.
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Here is a transcript of the September 29 segment:
7:30 AM ET
HODA HOTB: Okay, back now at 7:30.
CRAIG MELVIN: Oh, what is that, Hoda?
KOTB: Oh, that’s a sparkler. We have in our presence an Emmy and an Emmy award winner. That Emmy, that was awarded last night to NBC news and Savannah. So that came for outstanding live interview, it’s the town hall with then-President Trump. It was less than a month before the 2020 presidential election.
Savannah’s embarrassed, she asked us not to do it. But you know what? Too bad.
MELVIN: Forget it.
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Well –
KOTB: It was a – it’s a big award, it’s a nice award, and it will look beautiful on your mantle. And I said she – before she even got that award, before any hardware came into your life, you were already like A-number one.
MELVIN: But here’s the thing, as I texted you, this, of all of the Emmys that have been awarded, perhaps the most hard-earned and well-deserved. People don’t fully appreciate how hard it is not just to interview a sitting president but to fact check him or her live in person, and you did it masterfully.
KOTB: Yeah, right, it was.
GUTHRIE: Well, it really is. I did tell you not to do this, but since you did, I’m gonna say, Noah Oppenheim, Lucas Vasquez, Sarah Pine, Erin Farley, a great team, Roberto Bailey. So it’s for NBC News and we’re really – I’m proud of everybody, yeah.
KOTB: Yeah, everyone will share it, congrats.
