NBC picks Laura Jarrett as new Saturday ‘Today’ co-anchor

By Michael P. Hill Article may include affiliate links

NBC News legal correspondent Laura Jarrett has been named co-anchor of the Saturday edition of “Today,” the network announced Aug. 9, 2023.

She will succeed Kristen Welker, who is scheduled to become the new moderator of “Meet the Press” sometime in 2023 after Chuck Todd announced he would be stepping down earlier in the year.

Jarrett will debut in the new role Sept. 9, 2023, with Welker’s last show being sometime prior to that. NBC has not announced a date for Welker’s first “Meet the Press” show.

It appears NBC will be keeping Jarrett in New York, because its announcement notes she will be in Studio 1A alongside Joe Fryer, who is based in New York, and has been named feature anchor on the Saturday “Today.”

It appears that NBC may be bringing in Alexander from Washington, where he is based and also serves as NBC’s chief White House correspondent, one day a week.

The Saturday editions of “Today” moved to Washington in December 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The move was a way to avoid having Welker and Alexander travel to New York each weekend. The network opted to continue to the practice moving forward and most Saturday editions of have been anchored out of Studio N5 in Washington since then.

Jarrett is the daughter of Valerie Jarrett, a former adviser and campaign staffer for Barack Obama. She previously practiced law and anchored “Early Start” at CNN before jumping to NBC earlier in 2023.