MSNBC to Rebrand as MS Now Amid Network Transition and Focus on DOJ, FBI Reporting
MSNBC will rebrand as MS Now starting this Saturday, marking a shift as the cable news network separates and the new Versant network embarks on its own path. In building up its newsroom, MS Now has made two major hires focusing on the Justice Department and the FBI during the second Trump administration.
Carol Leonnig joined last summer as senior investigative reporter after a distinguished 25-year career at The Washington Post. Leonnig is also the author of four books, including the recent *Injustice*, co-authored with Aaron C. Davis. Joining her is Ken Dilanian, a justice reporter who previously served as NBC News justice and intelligence correspondent. Before that, Dilanian covered the intelligence community for the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times.
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### Investigative Reporting Highlight
One of Leonnig and Dilanian’s most high-profile joint scoops was a report revealing that Tom Homan, now the White House border czar, once accepted $50,000 from undercover FBI agents posing as business executives. The investigation was shut down after Donald Trump took office, with the White House and Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissing it as politically motivated and baseless.
Homan has denied any wrongdoing and recently claimed he “didn’t take $50,000 from anybody.” However, according to Leonnig and Dilanian’s report, hidden cameras recorded the transaction last year at a meeting spot in Texas. Their story cited an internal summary of the case and confidential sources.
Deadline recently spoke with Leonnig and Dilanian about the transition to MS Now, the challenges of sourcing information in the current political climate, and whether the public is engaged by what veterans have described as a “five-alarm fire” unfolding at the DOJ.
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### Reporting From a Startup Environment
**Deadline:** You’re essentially working at a startup. Are resources ever a challenge?
**Ken Dilanian:** On the TV side, I haven’t seen much difference. For instance, I did a live shot at the Supreme Court yesterday—it was the same setup we would have used at NBC, and actually, there seemed to be more people involved. Everyone is working overtime to make sure everything is perfect. The reality is we’re building the airplane in flight, adding staff continuously. Our hiring is still ongoing. So when it comes to covering Washington, the resources aren’t all that different.
**Carol Leonnig:** I joined fully aware that, as Ken said, the “plane” would be under construction while taking off. We’re fortunate and honored to have sources who trust us and want us to deliver these stories to the public. While we don’t yet have all the pieces in place, Ken and I sometimes have to work a bit harder since there aren’t many extra hands. But we know growth is coming, and we have a duty to report news in real time. If it’s a little tougher right now, that’s a challenge I gladly accept to bring this information to the American people.
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### Challenges in the Reporting Environment
**Deadline:** How much more difficult is it now to get DOJ or FBI personnel to talk to you, given threats they might face from the administration?
**Carol Leonnig:** These threats have been ongoing since Trump’s first presidency. FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors have been personally targeted by him and know the lasting damage such retribution can cause. When Trump was re-elected, they fully expected further retaliation. Ken and I have been employing rigorous source protection methods to allow insiders to share information without fear of exposure. We take our promise to keep sources confidential very seriously and we will continue protecting them while making sure the American public stays informed.
**Ken Dilanian:** There’s a twofold difference now. On one hand, people are more worried, especially about speaking publicly, due to concerns about retaliation or career repercussions. Even former officials and those at law firms or think tanks are more cautious than before. On the other hand, there are also insiders more willing to talk than ever because of what they’re witnessing inside their agencies. People who would never have considered speaking to reporters in the past are now open to it because they see troubling developments that they believe the public needs to know about.
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### A “Five-Alarm Fire” at the DOJ
**Deadline:** Carol, you described the situation at the DOJ as a “five-alarm fire” on PBS. Can you elaborate?
**Carol Leonnig:** That’s right. Imagine a world where a senior supervisor in a relatively unknown office—the assistant U.S. attorney’s office in central Virginia—removes live prosecutors from a case to protect them from being fired. This happened when she reported to the U.S. attorney about a tip that Ken and I were investigating. The tip revealed that in the first year of the Biden administration, there was no investigation into Trump, which initially seemed unlikely but turned out to be true.
This revelation led us to explore what had shifted in the DOJ’s foundational principle of operating “without fear or favor.” What shocked me wasn’t Attorney General Garland’s cautious and methodical approach, but the details of how careful he was. For example, many prosecutors disagreed with Garland’s belief that the investigation into Trump would ultimately come through the Capitol riot probe, despite existing evidence about a coordinated fake elector scheme tied to Trump’s campaign, which wasn’t directly related to the riot.
Another jaw-dropping detail was Garland’s decision to impose the DOJ’s 60-day rule during the midterm elections—even though Trump was not a candidate—freezing both the election interference case, which had just started, and the classified records case for 60 days before the midterms. People inside the DOJ were baffled upon learning that investigations were paused citing a policy meant to protect candidates from improper actions during election season.
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### Looking Ahead: Jack Smith and Possible Testimony
**Deadline:** Special Counsel Jack Smith has begun speaking out. Do you think we’ll see him testify?
*(Interview ends here – no response provided.)*
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As MS Now continues to grow, its commitment to investigative journalism, particularly around the DOJ and intelligence agencies, remains strong. With seasoned journalists like Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian at the helm, the network aims to deliver critical stories amidst a challenging media and political environment.
https://deadline.com/2025/11/ms-now-carol-leonnig-ken-dilanian-trump-justice-department-1236611329/