MS NOW’s Alexander and Hillyard Freak Out Over Zacharia's First White House Briefing

Nicholas Spinnato
October 13th, 2026 2:40 PM

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After new White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia’s first press briefing on Tuesday, a freakout ensued on MS NOW’s Money, Power, Politics with both MS NOW White House reporter Vaughn Hillyard and former NBC White House correspondent turned MS NOW host Peter Alexander complaining about the briefing. Both had mini-monologues that complained about Zacharia’s answers, while Alexander even criticized reporters in the room for their performance.

On with host Stephanie Ruhle, Hillyard first complained about the outlets called on at the briefing, before complaining about Zacharia’s answer to a question by Fox News’s Peter Doocy on whether the U.S. is still sharing intelligence information with Ukraine:

There was one other piece of news outside of Kimberly Guilfoyle resignation that she did, maybe unintentionally, I don't know, deliver. And that was the question from Peter Doocy at Fox, specifically whether the U.S. Was still providing Intel sharing to the Ukrainians. And she said, I'd have to get back to you on that. She didn't have an answer.

 

 

Hillyard continued to give his own opinion: “That should be a very basic answer. That basic answer should be yes.”

He went on and continued his TV appearance that felt more like an opinion show appearance rather than a report from the White House and stated, “And again, we have to say, I don't know whether she has any information about the U.S. intelligence-sharing capacity with the Ukrainians, but she did provide an answer. And that answer was essentially, 'I don't know that. I'm going to have to get back to you.'”

Then, as if he wanted the press secretary to answer a question she possibly did not have all the information on, Hillyard lamented:

That should be a very basic answer from the podium of the West Wing here. And I think it's why it's such a concern to have somebody representing the United States and the executive branch in this capacity, when there are some very basic questions there, that she should either have a yes or a no answer to, not a: ‘I need to get back to you on that answer.

Notably, Hillyard works for a network that hired Jen Psaki immediately after she left her job as Biden’s Press Secretary, where she was known for telling reporters she would “circle back."

 

 

Immediately after the Hillyard “report,” Peter Alexander tore into the briefing after he bragged about his history in the briefing room for NBC. 

Alexander said he would be immediately calling the Office of Special Counsel because of the briefing: "I think the first call by reporters, including myself, which I'll make after this, is to the Office of Special Counsel, because they, of course, are the government agency that enforce the Hatch Act here."

He then complained that Zacharia and reporters did not ask a “very fundamental question” that is traditionally asked by the AP that would “make clear to the American people that this person who is going to be speaking on behalf of the president, on behalf of the administration, recognizes that their first job is to the truth before anything else.” Alexander followed his own comments and said, “That didn't get asked.”

 

 

Alexander then critiqued reporters’ response to the big news made in the briefing over Trump telling Kimberly Guilfoyle to quit her job as Ambassador to Greece:

Zacharia said that the White House has asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign. The reporter said “okay,” and moved on to the next question. What should have been done? There is has she resigned? Is she no longer serving as the U.S. Ambassador to Greece? Where is she now? Has the president spoken with her? What is the U.S. going to do to hold her accountable for these things for which you believe she should resign? None of those follow-up questions were asked, which I think is really critically important.

Hillyard and Alexander represent the NBC “journalists” who made the switch to join MS NOW after the Versant divorce, with their pompous reports and appearances that have turned into rants that freak out over anything happening in the Trump Administration.

The transcript is below. Click "expand":

MS NOW’s Money, Power, Politics

October 13, 2026

10:02:51 AM Eastern

(...)

STEPHANIE RUHLE: Okay, well, guess what? Vaughn Hillyard did not get to ask a question to Katie Zacharia, but he does get to answer questions from us. Vaughn, you just left the room. What can you tell us?

VAUGHN HILLYARD: Steph, you had such hope. But she took questions from Breitbart, from Fox, and from the Daily Mail. And let me be very clear here. There was one other piece of news outside of Kimberly Guilfoyle resignation that she did, maybe unintentionally, I don't know, deliver. And that was the question from Peter Doocy at Fox, specifically whether the U.S. Was still providing Intel sharing to the Ukrainians. And she said, I'd have to get back to you on that. She didn't have an answer. 

That should be a very basic answer. That basic answer should be yes. The U.S. Is continuing to provide Intel to the Ukrainians. But the reason why it's a question is because the President of the United States, just in the last couple of days, said that the United States is going to begin importing Russian diesel fuel, calling into question why the Trump Administration is propping up the Russian oil supply, but also providing a funding lifeline to Russia at a time in which President Trump is calling on Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, to step aside. 

For a year and a half, Donald Trump said that Vladimir Putin had this artificial deadline, right? That he was going to have to enter into a ceasefire in order to make a deal. It was literally a year ago this week here at the White House that the president was asked whether he would be able to convince Vladimir Putin to end this war.

And he said, ‘Yep, we can do.’ He hasn't convinced Vladimir Putin. So three weeks before the midterm elections, he announced an order to feasibly try to bring down oil prices, which, as you know, is not going to be an immediate consequence of the buying of this diesel, but now goes on to send out a new press secretary. 

And again, we have to say, I don't know whether she has any information about the U.S. intelligence-sharing capacity with the Ukrainians, but she did provide an answer. And that answer was essentially, I don't know that I'm going to have to get back to you. 

That should be a very basic answer from the podium of the West Wing here. And I think it's why it's such a concern to have somebody representing the United States and the executive branch in this capacity, when there are some very basic questions there, that she should either have a yes or a no answer to, not a: “I need to get back to you on that answer.”

RUHLE: And to be clear, us lifting sanctions on Russian oil, this diesel, will not lower the price of diesel here. It is an immediate boost to help Russia. Vaughn, don't go anywhere. 

I want to bring into the conversation MS NOW chief national reporter, but you know him as host of State of Play with Peter Alexander. Peter, you have been in that White House Press Briefing room, maybe more than any of our other colleagues. Ambassador Maloney brought it up just a moment ago, violation of the Hatch Act and Katie Zacharia’s pledge to always tell the truth.

PETER ALEXANDER: Two important points that were made. Let me start by saying I've been in that briefing room for, I think, each of the last nine press secretaries dating back to Barack Obama's time in office. 

A couple of things that strike me here. One, to the ambassador's point on the Hatch Act. I think the first call by reporters, including myself, which I'll make after this, is to the Office of Special Counsel, because they, of course, are the government agency that enforce the Hatch Act here. You'll remember, past press secretaries would often go out of their way to say they didn't want to violate the Hatch Act. They didn't want to be politicking as their duty as a civil servant there. As a representative of this administration, you're not allowed to do that absent the vice president and the president. She obviously did it without solicitation. She offered it up, a series of political statements in her first comments. So that would be one of my first questions as a takeaway from this. 

Number two, what was striking to me is that no one - and I acknowledge there were only three reporters who were called on there - no one did what has been done in almost each of. In almost every one of the cases where a press secretary showed up for the first time, which is ask a very fundamental question. This was a job traditionally that was done by the Associated Press, because by tradition, the AP, which sits in the front row and the middle seat, would have this opportunity. They would ask, as they asked Karine Jean-Pierre in 2022, do you view your primary role here as speaking for the president or promoting his interests, or are you committed to providing the unvarnished truth to the American people? 

To Kayleigh McEnany, the AP didn't get the first question. They got the fourth question, but they asked, “Are you planning to do these on a daily basis? And will you pledge never to lie to us from that podium?” It's a key question that’s been done by reporters for years to basically make clear to the American people that this person who is going to be speaking on behalf of the president, on behalf of the administration, recognizes that their first job is to the truth before anything else. That didn't get asked. 

And then finally, what was striking to me was one of the questions from the reporters as it related to the topic of Kimberly Guilfoyle. You've talked about the issue about Ukraine, but on Kimberly Guilfoyle, she said, Zacharia said that the White House has asked Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign. The reporter said “okay,” and moved on to the next question. What should have been done? There is has she resigned? Is she no longer serving as the U.S. Ambassador to Greece? Where is she now? Has the president spoken with her? What is the U.S. going to do to hold her accountable for these things for which you believe she should resign? None of those follow-up questions were asked, which I think is really critically important.

And to the point that you and your colleagues, our team there on set with you, has been asking, this is a unique opportunity, a responsibility of reporters to speak on behalf of the American people, to get answers to these questions. But more often, I think the biggest difference in this briefing room that I've seen over the course of the 15, 14 years that I was covering the White House, is the changing face of the reporters in that room, where it's so many more influencers and sycophants than it is traditional journalists who recognize their advocacy is for the facts before it's for either party. And I think that's sadly what's lost more than anything else.

(...)

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