NewsNation Adds Legal, National Security Experts to On-Air Contributor Roster

By A.J. Katz 

NewsNation has been building up its contributor roster in recent weeks, and announced Thursday that it’s adding two more to the team.

Sara Azari and Tracy Walder will join recently named NewsNation contributors Johanna Maska, Jesse Weber, Jennifer Coffindaffer, Chris Hahn, media contributor Colby Hall, political editor Chris Stirewalt and senior political contributor George Will.

“As we are weeks away from becoming a 24-hour cable news network, I’m really excited to expand our line-up of powerhouse contributors,” NewsNation news chief Michael Corn said in a statement. “Sara and Tracy are two experts who are at the top of their game, helping us add valuable context to the day’s top news stories, with deep and thorough analysis.”

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As NewsNation legal contributor, Azari will offer her legal commentary and expertise across all daytime and primetime programming. A Los Angeles-based criminal defense and white-collar laywer, she has hosted and provided legal analysis on a variety of talk shows, news platforms, docuseries, and episodic shows. Azari regularly serves as a guest legal expert on NewsNation’s Cuomo on NewsNation and has appeared across ABC News programming, namely GMA, World News Tonight and 20/20.

Walder joins NewsNation as a National Security Contributor. She previously worked as an officer at the CIA, where she was deployed to nine different countries in the EMEA, including Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. During her time at the CIA, Walder received multiple commendations from both the CIA and foreign intelligence services. She also received the Counterterrorism Medallion. Following her tenure at the CIA, Ms. Walder became a Special Agent at the FBI specializing in Chinese counterintelligence operations and gang violence. She is one of very few women to have service on the operations side of both the CIA and FBI.

Following her time at the CIA and FBI, Walder became a teacher and created a course on national security and foreign policy for young women. Working as an adjunct instructor of Criminal Justice at TCU, she was recently recognized as the 2022-23 Leader in Residence at VMI. Her book, The Unexpected Spy, has been optioned by Netflix along with Wonderland Sound and Productions.

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