'Morning Joe' Pre-Empted on MSNBC Monday After Trump Attack

MSNBC recognized the start of the Republican National Convention by giving its flagship morning program the day off.

“Morning Joe” and its early-A.M. companion program, “Way Too Early,” were scrapped on Monday as the NBCUniversal-backed cable-news outlet focused instead on breaking-news coverage tied to this weekend’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Most of NBCUniversal’s news outlets — NBC News, MSNBC and the live-streaming service NBC News Now — have offered a single “special report” feed, all of it showing the same coverage of the violent event and its aftermath.

CNN previously reported that executives at NBCU News Group, led by chairman Cesar Conde, were sensitive to the potential effects of a guest on “Morning Joe” saying something that could offend general sensibilities. But MSNBC has been in what producers call “rolling” coverage of the Trump shooting and the investigation into it. On Monday morning, the cable network shared a special report feed with NBC News Now that featured anchors including Savannah Sellers, Joe Fryer and Kate Snow.

MSNBC said plans for breaking news coverage have been in place since this weekend. “Given the gravity and complexity of this unfolding story, NBC News, NBC News Now and MSNBC have remained in rolling breaking news coverage since Saturday evening,” the network said in a statement. “As we continue to cover this story into the week, the networks will continue to cross simulcast, alternating between NBC News, NBC News Now and ‘MSNBC Reports’, so there is one news feed covering this developing situation.”

The various networks haven’t always synced up to cover big events. On Election Night of 2020, for example, both NBC and MSNBC featured their own broadcasts.

The absence of “Morning Joe” is notable, particularly in a week when the Republican National Convention is starting, As of Friday, MSNBC had planned to use the venerable program to kick off each day. The show is popular among the Beltway set and in the Biden White House.

Much of MSNBC’s coverage of the RNC isn’t scheduled to start until Tuesday, when Rachel Maddow has been scheduled to lead a two-hour primetime special accompanied by many of the network’s opinion hosts.