WASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) - NBC News on Tuesday

reversed its decision to hire former Republican National

Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel as a paid contributor, a senior

official in the company told staff following high-profile

dissent over her hiring by many at the network.

McDaniel's hiring was criticized by multiple news anchors

and on-air personalities, including those at NBC's

liberal-leaning affiliate MSNBC, who condemned the former RNC

chair for her involvement in former President Donald Trump's

attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

"After listening to the legitimate concerns of many of you,

I have decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News

contributor," NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde said

in an email to staff.

"I want to personally apologize to our team members who felt

we let them down. While this was a collective recommendation by

some members of our leadership team, I approved it and take full

responsibility for it," Conde added.

Reuters was unable to obtain contact information for

McDaniel to seek comment from her.

NBC News, part of the NBCUniversal division of Comcast ( CMCSA )

, had announced McDaniel's hiring last Friday and said

she had a contract to provide insight and analysis on U.S.

politics and the 2024 election.

McDaniel, in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" that

aired on Sunday, said Trump had wanted her out of the RNC and

said she did not think that those who carried out violence in

the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots should be freed.

"When you're the RNC chair you - you kind of take one for

the whole team, right? Now I get to be a little bit more myself,

right? This is what I believe," she said when asked about why

she had not been critical of Trump earlier. Even so, McDaniel

said she did not "hold (Trump) responsible" for the attack at

the Capitol.

Trump has made repeated baseless claims that his defeat by

Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 was the result of election fraud.

Among those who criticized McDaniel's hiring by NBC were the

co-hosts of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program Joe Scarborough and

Mika Brzezinski, MSNBC's top anchor Rachel Maddow, and political

analyst Chuck Todd.

McDaniel in late February stepped down from the RNC top job,

after facing pressure following sluggish fundraising and a

weaker-than-expected performance for Republicans in the 2022

congressional midterm elections.

McDaniel is hardly the first person to move from a political

or government position to a high-profile media position. Jen

Psaki, who was White House press secretary under President Joe

Biden, joined MSNBC; Kayleigh McEnany, who was White House press

secretary under Trump, joined Fox News.