Conservative commentator Steve Hayes is joining NBC News as a contributor.
According to the network, Hayes will “appear regularly across all NBC News platforms” and “contribute to the network’s special political and election coverage.”
Hayes tweeted about the news, “Very excited to join NBC News as a contributor. Eager to get to work.”
Very excited to join NBC News as a contributor. Eager to get to work. https://t.co/qd5vfBGKSp
— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) January 28, 2022
Hayes, who worked at the Weekly Standard, co-founded the conservative outlet The Dispatch in 2019 along with former National Review writer Jonah Goldberg.
Hayes and Golberg were contributors for Fox News but left last year over host Tucker Carlson’s documentary about the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
In a blog post in November, the pair wrote, “The special—which ran on Fox’s subscription streaming service earlier this month and was promoted on Fox News—is presented in the style of an exposé, a hard-hitting piece of investigative journalism. In reality, it is a collection of incoherent conspiracy-mongering, riddled with factual inaccuracies, half-truths, deceptive imagery, and damning omissions.”
“And its message is clear: The U.S. government is targeting patriotic Americans in the same manner —and with the same tools—that it used to target al Qaeda,” they continued.
The post added, “This is not happening. And we think it’s dangerous to pretend it is. If a person with such a platform shares such misinformation loud enough and long enough, there are Americans who will believe—and act upon—it.”
Finally, they claimed that while Fox does “real reporting,” the “voices of the responsible are being drowned out by the irresponsible.”
Carlson reacted to their departure, telling NPR, “These are two of the only people in the world who still pretend the Iraq war was a good idea.”
“No one wants to watch commentary that stupid,” he added.
While the two said they left over Carlson’s documentary, a source from the network said it did not plan on renewing their contracts.