On May 11, 2018, MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace asked an NBC News reporter on her afternoon show how she resisted “the temptation to run up and wring her neck,” referring to White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. Wallace apologized on Twitter later that day.
The remark came during Deadline: White House. She put the question to NBC News White House reporter Kristen Welker. It followed Sanders’ refusal that Friday to comment on a report that an administration aide had made a dismissive remark about Sen. John McCain’s health.
What did Wallace say, and what prompted it?
The daily briefing had included questions about the reported comment by a White House staffer about McCain, the Arizona Republican. According to the Daily Caller, Sanders answered by saying the president supports all Americans.
On air, Wallace continued her question. She asked why Sanders could not say that if a staffer made the remark, the White House would get to the bottom of it and the person would be fired. Wallace had been an adviser on McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, the Washington Examiner noted.
Welker did not take up the phrasing. She said only that reporters in the briefing room were surprised Sanders had not offered more of an answer.
How did Wallace respond?
Wallace apologized on Twitter. Her message read: “I used poorly chosen words, & for that I’m sorry.”
She added that she had been trying to convey the frustration of getting spin rather than answers about the McCain remark. NBC News later described the “wring her neck” phrase as a reference to exasperation with Sanders’ response to questions about a White House staffer who reportedly joked about the cancer-stricken senator.
The apology was posted the same day the segment aired, May 11, 2018. The search results do not show any suspension or other action by MSNBC.
Did the remark come up again?
Yes. Sanders referred to it herself later in 2018, when she told a reporter that the media had said she should be “choked.” NBC News explained that the “choked” line referred to Wallace, who had apologized in May for “poorly chosen words.”
The episode has also been cited in later coverage of Wallace. In 2026, Fox News reported that Wallace said in a podcast interview that she stopped airing press briefings during Donald Trump’s first term, when Sanders was press secretary, because watching them “hurt” her. That report noted her 2018 apology.
Where do the people involved stand now?
The 2026 coverage describes Wallace as the host of Deadline White House on MS NOW. The network, formerly MSNBC, has since changed its name, and her show debuted in 2017. Sanders, now the governor of Arkansas, served as press secretary for nearly two years, the longest of any in Trump’s first administration.
The reports reviewed here give no further official statement from the network about the 2018 remark beyond Wallace’s own apology.