NBC News White House correspondent Kelly O’Donnell teared up on the air while reporting from the South Lawn after a video celebrating her 25 years at the network was played on Thursday.
“Take a look at your monitor, because there are a lot of people here who want to say congratulations,” MSNBC anchor Hallie Jackson told O’Donnell before playing the congratulatory video.
The video included well-wishes from former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio); former Secretary of State John Kerry; Cindy McCain, the wife of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), along with her NBC and MSNBC colleagues.{mosads}
“Wow. I am so blown away,” an emotional O’Donnell said after the video was played. “I was sent here under false pretenses. I prepared a statement, and they’re cutting the grass. If you notice that I’m a little teary, it’s just the grass.”
“I am definitely grateful and look forward to more,” she said before later adding, “I am a puddle.”
O’Donnell, a Northwestern graduate, began her broadcast journalism career at WJW-TV in Cleveland before joining NBC in 1994.
She was inducted into the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame in 2011 and has won multiple Emmys for her work at NBC News.