Carol Leonnig, a veteran investigative reporter for the Washington Post, is departing the publication for MSNBC.
Leonnig will serve as MSNBC’s senior investigative correspondent as the network builds up its news division in advance of its split from Comcast and sister network NBC News.
Leonnig has been at the Post for 25 years, and she’s the latest journalist to leave the publication. She was lead reporter for the Post‘s coverage of the January 6th attack on the Capitol, and was part of Post teams that won prizes in 2024, 2017 and 2014.
Along with Philip Rucker, she wrote two books on Trump’s first term, including A Very Stable Genius and I Alone Can Fix It. Her book, Zero Fail, followed her Pulitzer Prize reporting on the Secret Service during Barack Obama’s presidency. Puck first reported on Leonnig’s departure.
Before the Post, Leonnig worked on the staffs of the Charlotte Observer and Philadelphia Inquirer.
A number of Post veterans have departed the paper after the publication announced buyouts earlier this year. Among those who have exited are columnist Jonathan Capehart, who appears on PBS NewsHour and co-hosts MSNBC’s The Weekend; Glenn Kessler, who has been behind the Post‘s Fact Checker column; and Erik Wemple, the media critic who is joining the New York Times.
MSNBC has been staffing up as it separates from Comcast, with Scott Matthews hired in January as VP Newsgathering. Earlier on Monday, the network announced that Jacob Soboroff would land at MSNBC. Others who have recently joined from NBC News/MSNBC include Brandy Zadrozny, as senior enterprise reporter; Vaughn Hillyard, as senior White House correspondent; Ken Dilanian, as justice correspondent; and David Noriega, correspondent based in Los Angeles. Other hires include Laura Barrón-López, previously White House correspondent for PBS NewsHour and an analyst for CNN; Marc Santia, reporter on criminal justice, security issues and investigations for NBC 4 New York; and Erielle Reshef, previously a contributor for ABC News. Eugene Daniels was hired from Politico as senior Washington correspondent and Jackie Alemany from the Post as Washington correspondent, and they also serve as co-hosts of The Weekend. Antonia Hylton joined as a correspondent and Elise Jordan as contributor, and they co-host The Weekend: Primetime.
Last week, parent company Versant announced that Meghan Rafferty, executive producer of NBC Nightly News, would join as VP News Standards at MSNBC and CNBC.
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