Morning Shows | NBC

Jenna Bush Hager Will Be the Next Co-Host of Today’s Fourth Hour

By A.J. Katz 

Today show veteran Jenna Bush Hager received a nice promotion today. She has been named the next permanent co-host of Today’s fourth hour, and will begin her new gig in April. Bush Hager will take over for Kathie Lee Gifford, who departs the network later this year, and will join Hoda Kotb at the table each weekday from 10 – 11 a.m.

“It feels humbling and I can’t believe it,” Bush Hager said on the show this morning.

She shared with Kotb and KLG what her father, former President George W. Bush, told her after learning the news.

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“My dad just wrote me three words, which made me weep. He said, ‘Very proud dad,’” Bush Hager said, her voice cracking, before she joked, “Which I’m like, what is there to be proud about? I’m just drinking wine in the morning!”

“You have been such a role model and so generous with your time,” Bush Hager said to KLG. “You are beloved here in so many ways and if I can use some of your grace and have a half of what you’ve done, my life will be a very happy one.”

KLG told her fourth hour successor, “You keep trusting your instincts and you’re going to sit next to the best person in the whole world because she has your back, because she has your heart. It’s going to be fun. You guys are going to have a ball.”

This marks yet another change to the program since the departure of Matt Lauer in late 2017. Kotb joined Savannah Guthrie as permanent co-host of the flagship 7-9 a.m. Today show, with Craig Melvin being named the show’s news anchor last September.

And of course, Megyn Kelly left NBC’s 9 a.m. hour (and the network entirely) last October.

Bush Hager’s NBC News colleagues are understandably thrilled, including KLG herself:

 

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