Jonathan Lemire (born November 28, 1979) is an American journalist and political correspondent. He is currently the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

bureau chief of

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...

and is the host of

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

's morning news show ''

Way Too Early ''Way Too Early with Jonathan Lemire'' is an American morning news show that airs weekday mornings on MSNBC. The network has had shows with the title ''Way Too Early'', both with and without the name of the host at the time, during two differen ...

''.

Early life and education

Lemire grew up in

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...

. He graduated from Central Catholic High School in

Lawrence, Massachusetts Lawrence is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, on the Merrimack River. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 89,143. Surrounding communities include Methuen to the north, Andover to the southwest, and Nort ...

, where he was a record-setting runner for the school's

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

team, and earned a bachelor's degree in history from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 2001.

Career

At Columbia, he wrote for the

student newspaper A student publication is a media outlet such as a newspaper, magazine, television show, or radio station produced by students at an educational institution. These publications typically cover local and school-related news, but they may also repor ...

, ''

Columbia Daily Spectator The ''Columbia Daily Spectator'' (known colloquially as the ''Spec'') is the student newspaper of Columbia University. Founded in 1877, it is the oldest continuously operating college news daily in the nation after ''The Harvard Crimson'', and has ...

'', and later interned at the ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'' in 2001, "I was told that I would never be hired but I could stay on as an intern for another few months." A week later, the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

occurred, he remained an intern, and "was eventually brought on staff". Lemire worked there for more than a decade. In 2013, Lemire joined the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

, where he covered

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

politics as well as

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

and Joe Biden’s administrations. He gained media attention for his news conference question, to Trump about Russia's

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

at their July 2018 Helsinki summit, "Who do you believe, Putin or U.S. intelligence?" Lemire has also been a longtime political analyst for

and

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

. In October 2021,

named Lemire as the new host of its early morning news show ''

'', taking over full-time reporting duties from

Kasie Hunt Kasie Sue Hunt (born May 24, 1985) is an American political correspondent for CNN. From 2013 to 2021, she was NBC News' Capitol Hill correspondent, covering Congress across all NBC News and MSNBC platforms, and was the host of MSNBC's '' Way Too ...

. He was also named White House bureau chief of

and began his duties in November 2021.

Works

Personal life

In 2008, Lemire married fellow journalist Carrie Melago, who is a managing editor of

Chalkbeat Chalkbeat is a Non-profit journalism, non-profit news organization that covers education in several American communities. Its mission is to "inform the decisions and actions that lead to better outcomes for children and families by providing deep ...

. They met while they were both working at The Daily News. The couple has two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lemire, Jonathan 1979 births Politico people MSNBC people People from Lowell, Massachusetts Columbia College (New York) alumni Associated Press reporters New York Daily News people Journalists from Massachusetts Television anchors from Boston NBC News people Living people 21st-century American journalists