MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace Faces ‘Conflict of Interest’ Questions After Disclosure Failure During Broadcasts – Opinion

Principled Former Conservative™ Nicolle Wallace, a self-described “Fauci groupie,” hosts a weekday program on MSNBC titled “Deadline: White House” in which she has on an array of guests that are usually there to prop up whatever bogus conspiracy theories or wacky narratives she’s spinning or “bombshell” reports she’s spouting that more often than not turn out to be nothingburgers.

A frequent guest on Wallace’s shows has been New York Times reporter Mike Schmidt, who also authored a book released in September 2020 in which he detailed supposed efforts from officials in the Trump administration to allegedly “try to contain the forty-fifth president of the United States as he shredded norms and sought to expand his power, bringing American democracy to the brink.” Schmidt also has been one of the leading propagandists in the mainstream media at perpetuating the Trump/Russia collusion hoax alongside another MSNBCer – Rachel Maddow – who probably more than anyone else on the network aggressively pushed the lies about the non-existent conspiracy. Maddow promoted Schmidt’s book and amplified some claims.

The most secretive of Beltway media circles is that Wallace was a disgruntled former Republican from the Bush/Cheney and McCain/Palin years. He and Schmidt had been dating since March 2019. Despite that fact, Wallace continued to have Schmidt on her program as a guest periodically – and apparently with MSNBC’s blessing – without disclosing their relationship as she amplified his work and they dished on his “scoops.”

They were married April 2nd. It wasn’t widely reported in a lot of media outlets beyond the New York Post and People Magazine, but watchers of Wallace’s show spotted their wedding bands a couple of days later:

Did anyone else spot the NEW wedding band on Nicolle Wallace’s ring finger? Just coincidentally, today’s guest on her show, Mike Schmidt, also was sporting NEW wedding band. Is that why she flew off her show last week? Mike, if true, is one lucky man!

— Michael Garee (@MichaelGaree) April 4, 2022

Since they were wed, Schmidt has appeared on Wallace’s program five times (roughly once a week), with the most recent appearance being May 12th, where she promoted another sensationalized anti-Trump piece from Schmidt detailing how “a grand jury investigation by federal prosecutors is probing whether classified documents and classified material from Donald Trump’s White House that ended up at Mar-a-Lago was at any point along its journey mishandled.”

In none of Schmidt’s appearances on the program since they were married has it been disclosed by Wallace that the two are husband and wife, with the May 12th appearance being one such example:

There have been some twitter users who have seen it and wondered if there were ethical or conflicts of interest implications.

Interesting & weird how @NicolleDWallaceshe defends her husband @nytmikeReporting on #Jan6, criminal referral to Zoe Lofgren, who’s dismissive of said reporting. This appears to be a true COI for NC & @DeadlineWH. Shouldn’t she disclose their relationship?

— 🇺🇦 Cindy #IStandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 (@CindyPerry6) April 12, 2022

It’s very strange that Nicole Wallace, a journalist and political consultant at msnbc, sits next to Mike Schmidt. He doesn’t reveal his husband’s identity but he does introduce himself.

— Debbie (@ilovepaulmcc) April 11, 2022

Some D.C. residents are asking similar questions. Cocktail Circuit movers and shakers, some of who at the very least find it odd that Wallace won’t reveal the information prior to introducing Schmidt during broadcasts in the interest of full disclosure, as they would expect in similar situations on their hated rival network Fox News. Other people have raised ethical concerns about this segment for MSNBC. They have clearly given their approval.

Are there ethics issues or a conflict between the interests? There are many opinions. Maybe they don’t want to be seen as another Mika and Joe, whose over-the-top cutesy segments as husband and wife on MSNBC have been known to send people into therapy.

In any event, since Wallace won’t disclose it, someone had to. This is what you now know.

Flashback: MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace Blurts out What Joe Biden Won’t About ‘Success’ of Workplace Vaccine Mandate