In 2008, shortly after becoming a U.S. senator, Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and her husband, John Bessler, began renting a house in Arlington, Virginia, from Chuck Todd, then NBC News’ political director. I unveil the ties between Todd and Democratic campaigns in my explosive new book, Breaking the News: Exposing the Establishment Media’s Hidden Deals and Secret Corruptions.
After Klobuchar’s campaign announcement, Todd offered viewers his analysis of Klobuchar’s candidacy. Her biggest asset, according to Todd? “Location, location, location.”
According to Page Six, which first reported the relationship, Klobuchar and her husband paid the Todds $3,200 a month. This relationship went undisclosed for years, even though Todd went on to question Klobuchar at least eight times on-air during her 2020 campaign, including as the moderator of two of the primary debates:
- On June 26, 2019, Todd was one of the NBC moderators of the primary debate in which Klobuchar appeared:
- On March 17,2019, Todd sat down with Klobuchar in Waterloo, Iowa, to discuss the campaign:
- On July 7, 2019, Klobuchar appeared on Meet the Press to discuss her candidacy from from New Hampshire:
- On September 8, 2019, Todd interviewed Klobuchar in-studio on Meet the Press:
- On December 1, 2019, Klobuchar appeared on Meet the Press, this time to discuss impeachment:
- On January 23, 2020, Klobuchar again discussed impeachment with Todd:
- Three days later, on January 26, 2020, Klobuchar again appeared on Meet the Press to talk impeachment:
- Finally, on February 19, 2020, Chuck Todd was once again a moderator for a primary debate in which Klobuchar appeared:
This was not Todd’s only financial connection to Democratic campaigns. His wife, Kristian Denny, is a Democratic campaign consultant. According to OpenSecrets, Denny’s firm, Maverick Strategies, was paid over $900,000 by the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2020 and over $1.5 million from Sanders in 2016, among many examples.
More bombshell details on NBC News’s deep ties to the Democrat establishment can be found in Breaking the News, out now.
Alex Marlow is the Editor-in-Chief of Breitbart News, the host of Breitbart News Daily on SiriusXM’s Patriot Channel 125, and the author of the new book, Breaking the News: Exposing the Establishment Media’s Hidden Deals and Secret Corruption. You can follow Alex on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @AlexMarlow.