Meet The Press host Chuck Todd will step aside in September, calling the decision a voluntary one. NewsNation host Dan Abrams isn’t exactly buying that.

During Dan Abrams Live Monday, the eponymous host argued that it’s like both Todd and NBC News are lying about the circumstances behind Todd’s departure.

“That a news operation that is supposed to be seeking out the truth and providing its viewers and readers with accurate information, calling out fact from fiction,” said Abrams. “And yet, they are almost certainly creating a fictionalized version of what happened.”

Abrams then noted that under Todd, Meet The Press has gone from the most-watched Sunday political affairs program to being in third place behind offerings from CBS and ABC.

“They had already canceled Todd’s daily show on MSNBC, and NBC was probably under pressure to replace a White male host of a show that was both suffering in the ratings and which was blasted by many on social media.”

He added that while he likes Todd, he doesn’t believe the host would voluntarily “relinquish his highest profile role with the 2024 election around the corner”.

Abrams’ opinion is backed up by previous media reporting that claimed as far back as last August that Todd would be replaced by Kristen Welker, who was simultaneously announced as his successor.

While announcing his departure from Meet The Press this weekend, moderator Chuck Todd said he would rather “leave a little bit too soon than stay a tad bit too long.” That statement drew a strong reaction from Fox News host Jesse Watters.

During Monday’s edition of Jesse Watters Primetime, the Fox News host openly mocked Todd’s comments, laughing out loud in the process.

“Chuck Todd thinks he’s leaving too soon!” Watters joked. “Oh man, imagine if Chuck Todd’s guests came on this show, it would change the course of the country. ‘Hey, senator, why do you want men changing in your daughters’ locker rooms?’ ‘Mr. Secretary, do you drive an electric car?’ ‘Mr. President, why do you keep calling everybody racist?’”

Watters then said Todd turned the venerable NBC News program into a “safe space for the most powerful people in America”. He then pointed out questions that former moderator Tim Russert asked to both presidential candidates in 2004. He argued Todd would never hit “both sides” the way Russert did.

“Meet the Press used to cover what Chuck Todd today would call a conspiracy theory,” Watters continued. “Do you think Chuck would ask Kerry a secret society question? Chuck Todd doesn’t even know Hunter’s laptop is real.”

Embattled CNN CEO Chris Licht is facing his strongest pushback at the network after an exposé from The Atlantic detailed “the meltdown” at CNN. However, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough is defending his former colleague Monday.

During Morning Joe, which Licht was once the executive producer of, the former congressman said much of the reporting surrounding Licht’s tenure has been inaccurate.

“I mean, listen, I love Jeff Zucker. He’s a friend of ours,” Scarborough said. “He saved my job at NBC more than one or two times, so I’m not mocking Jeff, but this idea that (CNN) was a ratings juggernaut when it just wasn’t before Chris walked through the door? That’s not Jeff’s fault, that’s just bad reporting. It wasn’t. It was in third place.

“You look at when Phil Griffin left, MSNBC was first, Fox was second, and CNN was third. That’s how it was a lot in those final years. Again, not a knock on Jeff at all. CNN is a really hard place to run for the best of ’em. Zucker is the best of ’em, and I think in time, I think Chris will be proven to be the best of ’em, too.”

Scarborough also read a Twitter thread of Licht’s Monday comments to staffers where he took accountability for the damaging remarks he made about CNN before his tenure to The Atlantic.

“That’s exactly what you’d want from somebody that made a mistake,” Scarborough said. “They step forward, they admit the mistake, and say ‘I’m very sorry’. Head down. ‘Let’s get to work’.”