Conservative commentator Steve Hayes is joining NBC News as a contributor.
According to the network, Hayes will âappear regularly across all NBC News platformsâ and âcontribute to the networkâs special political and election coverage.â
Hayes tweeted about the news, âVery excited to join NBC News as a contributor. Eager to get to work.â
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 Carlsonâs documentary about the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
In a blog post in November, the pair wrote, âThe specialâwhich ran on Foxâs subscription streaming service earlier this month and was promoted on Fox Newsâis presented in the style of an exposĂ©, 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.â
âAnd its message is clear: The U.S. government is targeting patriotic Americans in the same manner âand with the same toolsâthat it used to target al Qaeda,â they continued.
The post added, âThis is not happening. And we think itâs 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 believeâand act uponâit.â
Finally, they claimed that while Fox does âreal reporting,â the âvoices of the responsible are being drowned out by the irresponsible.â
Carlson reacted to their departure, telling NPR, âThese are two of the only people in the world who still pretend the Iraq war was a good idea.â
âNo one wants to watch commentary that stupid,â he added.
While the two said they left over Carlsonâs documentary, a source from the network said it did not plan on renewing their contracts.
