Welcome to the show.
-Nice desk. -Thank you very much.
-Yeah. -Thank you. D-Do you miss desks now that you stand?
-Is that the thing? -Yeah, I do a lot of standing.
I have a very fancy desk. But now they have me standing
-for most-most of the broadcast. -Yeah, like, you st-- I like it.
-It's like-- -I come home like anybody else, like, "Oh, my feet
-are killing me." It's-- Yeah. -Right. The days of sitting
-are gone, my friend. -Yeah. No, it's a more--
-You know, you can project more and, uh-- -I like it.
I like your vibe. Like, you got, like, the-- I never know
where you're gonna be. I'm like, "Where's Lester gonna be?"
-Never know. You're just, like, popping up. -We have
this cool studio with all these-- So, every day,
we're like, "Hey, what if we did it here? What if we did it
-over there?" -Let's, uh-- let's first congratulate you for--
-Uh, you won an Emmy last night. -Yeah, for--
-Congratulations for that. -Thank you. Thank you.
-(cheering and applause) -It was, um...
it was, uh, for an interview I had done with President Obama.
The-the night he gave his farewell to the country,
-we traveled with him to Chicago. -Right.
Went to his favorite restaurant in Hyde Park in Chicago.
Sat down. And as we're-we're doing the interview,
of course, the clock is counting down,
because we have to get him out of there
so he can get to his speech, his 9:00 speech.
-Uh, but we won an Emmy for it last night. -I'm assuming
you won the Emmy for not crying during the interview.
-Is that-- is that what it was? -(laughs)
H-- Let me ask, let me ask you this question. I mean, it-it--
This is something that comes up all the time.
You know, you-you hear people saying that the liberal media,
the news media is liberal.
Trump even said the other day, he said, "All you news people,
I call you Democrats. You're all Democrats."
(stammers) How do you respond to the idea that,
as-as newspeople, you can report on the news
and still have your own personal beliefs about politics
-that we may or may not know? -That's a really good question,
'cause I tell people all the time we're living human beings.
You know, we have feelings about everything.
I have opinions about a lot of things.
-Some things I-I don't know, and I accept that. -Right.
I think it's healthy to sometimes say, you know,
"I don't know how to figure out immigration"
or whatever the-- whatever it may be.
Um, but we're professionals at the same time.
I mean, I enjoy a spirited,
intellectual, you know, debate.
-Right. -I like to hear smart people talk about issues.
And you realize there's-- often, there's no right answer.
And that's kind of the attitude I bring, you know,
to the news set every night.
Um, but, you know, most of-- most of that,
you know, you just kind of let it go in one ear, out the other.
-You have to. We have to do our jobs. -Right.
It-It's hard when-when your haters are in the White House,
because there was a-- there was a tweet
that President Trump sent out, and this was in-in August,
right, where he said, "What's going on at CNN is happening,
to different degrees, at other networks."
"To" with one "O." Um...
He said, "With NBC News being the worst.
"The good news is that Andy Lack(y) is about to be fired
"for incompetence, and much worse.
"When Lester Holt got caught fudging my tape on Russia,
they were hurt badly."
Why'd you fudge-fudge the tape, Lester?
Why'd you fudge the tape?
Well, to put that in context,
uh, I was actually on vacation, and I slept in.
Uh, first thing, I open the phone. I said to my--
"Hey, honey, I got tweeted about by the president."
It was, uh-- You know, it's, um...
I-- You know, I-I-- (stammers) How do you dignify that?
I mean, it, you know-- it was...
At that point, I think it was 15 months after the interview.
Right. And the interview, just so we're all on the same page,
is the interview that, in many ways, has shaped
what's happening in America right now.
You sat down with the president,
and he basically admitted to firing James Comey
because of the Russia investigation,
which has now come back to bite him.
Well, he-he acknowledged that the Russia investigation
was on his mind. And-and, you know, we--
It was a-- it was a good, spirited conversation.
He-- You know, and there were no trick questions.
-Right. -He was very up front about, you know,
uh, why he wanted him fired.
And, uh, you know, uh,
the early reports were he thought it was a good interview.
How do you not tweet back
when the president tweets you saying
you-you lied as a journalist?
Oh, I-- You know, that's a-- that's a foolhardy game.
As-as a journalist, you can't get into that.
Because, you know, we do news every day
that sometimes makes people uncomfortable.
We'll do stories that may challenge your worldview
-or challenge what you've always thought something to be. -Right.
And, uh, you know, if you got in the position of,
you know, responding to every critic
of something you've reported, um, that would be a--
take you down a road you don't want to go down.
And-and, certainly, I'm not gonna get into it
with the president of the United States.
Let's talk about the journey that you've taken on the news.
Um, it's been really interesting to see some of the stories
that you're covering, particularly with regards
to criminal justice reform.
You know, when Meek Mill was in prison,
you were one of the first and few news programs
that reached out to him in prison.
You conducted an interview with him over the phone.
And then, when he came out, you touched base with him again.
Why is it so important for you to catch up on these stories,
'cause I notice there's a specific focus on this.
Because I think there's a moment in time here
where both the red and blue--
both the Republicans and Democrats--
are starting to understand there's a need
for criminal justice reform.
That's one of the few things they can talk about
and find some common ground.
Meek Mill story was-- you know, he served time
for, you know, crimes he was convicted of,
but then, he got caught in what he thought was a probation trap,
-Right. -where, you know, you're on probation,
and you do something, and then you're back in for more...
Right. You can basically never get out.
...for more time, yeah.
And so, it was a fascinating story.
He had, you know, the celebrity to, of course,
put this on the front burner.
And you're right. I spoke to him on the phone a few times,
interviewed him, and then, we were there,
I mean, literally there as he came out,
and, you know, he was whisked away in a helicopter.
He was at the 76ers game that day,
and we interviewed him within hours of that.
But he's one of many people who have brought a lot
of attention to this, and it's something
-that I've become more and more passionate about. -Right.
I've noticed your passion in the stories you cover
and in the manner you cover them in, as well,
because, you know,
you've started taking yourself away from the desk,
but I've also noticed
that you've started taking the news to the people,
which is really interesting.
You're embarking on a multistate tour right now
where you're going around the country
speaking to people who you're reporting the news about,
which is an interesting way to do it.
We've always seen the news as being in a place.
You're making it seem like
the news is where the people actually are.
-What are you doing and why? -Well, you know, I'm a reporter,
so I'm always more comfortable in the field.
I always tell, you know, young journalists that...
You know, they say, "I want to be an anchor some day."
I say, "Well, that's great," I said, "But you know,
"just so you know, the most exciting,
"fulfilling moments in my career
"have not been sitting at the desk.
-They've been out in the field." -Right.
So I do take the broadcast on the road to major stories--
you know, hurricanes or attacks or whatever may be going on.
But it's also important to go visit communities
when nothing horrible is happening.
I was in local news for 20 years,
and you know, you have a community, you know,
whether it was Los Angeles or Chicago.
You know, you had a community.
I speak to the whole country every night,
and it's important to, you know, get out of New York City.
Love it here, but you know, some people describe it as a bubble.
To get out, look at stories that may resonate across the country,
but are playing out in a unique way
-in a particular city. -Right, right, right.
So this is the third time we've done this.
We'll go... Um, next week,
we'll be in a different city every night,
you know, doing stories that are important
in those communities, but again,
ones that, you know, may ring familiar to others.
Do you find when you go to these communities
that people hunger for the need to be...?
Like, they hunger to be seen?
Is that a big thing, where they go, "Wow.
"Lester Holt with the national news is here talking to me
in a small town that no one really thinks about."?
Yeah, and it's important, because I bristle when I...
when people start thinking of this...
you know, this big, authoritative anchor job,
like we're on some kind of altar.
We're not. You know, we're reporters.
And I'm lucky to be, you know,
-the chief reporter, if you will, every night. -Right.
Uh, but I want people to know that this... the broadcast...
We want the broadcast to always be relevant,
to be modern, to touch people,
to cover the stories that they're thinking about.
And to do that, you really have to get out,
so, it's, uh, you know, it's a no-brainer for me.
Um, as a reporter, I like to be where the people are,
where the stories are being made,
and I think, you know, it makes me better at what I do.
-Well, congratulations on everything. -Thank you.
-Looking forward to the tour. -Thank you.
Lester kicks off his Across America tour next week
on NBC Nightly News.
Tune in on your local NBC station. Lester Holt, everybody.