Hoda Kotb is leaving NBC's 'Today' show early next year

NEW YORK (AP) — Hoda Kotb, a fixture at NBC for more than two decades, says she will leave her morning perch on the “Today” show early next year, telling staffers “it’s time.”

In a memo to her team — and later in an emotional on-air reveal Thursday — Kotb said her 60th birthday this summer helped trigger the departure: “I saw it all so clearly: my broadcast career has been beyond meaningful, a new decade of my life lies ahead, and now my daughters and my mom need and deserve a bigger slice of my time pie.”

Kotb has co-anchored the first two hours of “Today” with Savannah Guthrie since 2018, filling in after Matt Lauer was fired amid sexual harassment allegations. She continued to co-host of the fourth hour of the morning show with Jenna Bush Hager, having previously hosted it alongside Kathie Lee Gifford. Kotb first joined NBC News as a correspondent for “Dateline” in 1998, and later joined “Today” in 2007.

Her daughters are Haley, 7, and Hope, 5.

Kotb was surrounded by her co-workers when she told viewers of her decision, saying, “This is the hardest thing in the world” and “I’ve been practicing so I wouldn’t cry, but anyway, I did.”

“We love you so much,” Guthrie, who has co-anchored “Today” with Kotb for more than five years, said with tears in her eyes. “And when you look around and see these tears, they’re love. You are so loved. We don’t want to imagine this place without you.”

Kotb's goodbye note mentioned many of her co-workers, like Al Roker: “Savannah: my rock. Jenna: my ride-or-die. Al: my longest friend at 30 Rock.”

“Happily and gratefully, I plan to remain a part of the NBC family, the longest work relationship I’ve been lucky enough to hold close to my heart. I’ll be around. How could I not? Family is family and you all will always be a part of mine,” she wrote.

“I’m actually excited for her,” said Imani M. Cheers, an associate professor of digital storytelling at the George Washington University. “I think it’s a huge loss, but I am so excited to see what she’s going to do next. I think it’s poignant. It comes a point in all of our lives: You do have to pivot.”

The move leaves two morning slots open for NBC as it tries to regain the top morning slot from ABC's “Good Morning America,” which features Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Michael Strahan.

Cheers said Kotb had the ability to do hard news and soft, be welcoming but also no-nonsense, making her a hard person to replace.

“She was able to bring a brevity and just a bubbly light touch, but also could be someone that’s going to talk about very serious and heavy topics. She’s trusted. You feel that if she’s reporting that it’s going to be fair and it’s going to be balanced. And that is really hard to come by,” Cheers said.

FILE - Co-anchors Savannah Guthrie, left, and Hoda Kotb pose on set of the "Today" show at NBC Studios on Wednesday, June 27, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)

This image released by NBC shows "Today" show co-host Hoda Kotb on the set in New York on June 12, 2024. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via AP)

This image released by NBC shows Hoda Kotb on the set of the "Today" show in New York on Feb. 29, 2024. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via AP)

This image released by NBC shows co-hosts Savannah Gutrhie, left, and Hoda Kotb on the set of the "Today" show in New York on June 10, 2024. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via AP)

FILE - Hoda Kotb appears on NBC's "Today" show at Rockefeller Plaza on Thursday, May 19, 2022, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — An FBI agent who interviewed two former Memphis police officers on trial in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols testified Thursday that they accepted accountability for participating.

FBI Special Agent Anthony Householder took the stand in the federal trial of Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, who have pleaded not guilty to charges of excessive force, failure to intervene, and obstructing justice through witness tampering. Two other former officers, Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr., have testified after pleading guilty to depriving Nichols of his civil rights.

Householder said he interviewed Bean and Smith as part of the FBI’s investigation into the January 2023 beating.

Householder said Smith told him that he and Martin both punched Nichols. Smith said he should have stopped Martin from punching Nichols, Householder said.

Smith added that he didn’t tell emergency medical technicians about punches delivered to Nichols because he thought Nichols would be able to tell them himself, Householder said. Nichols died in the hospital on Jan. 10, 2023, three days after the beating.

The officers used pepper spray and a Taser on Nichols, who was Black, during a traffic stop, but the 29-year-old ran away, police video shows. The five officers, who also are Black, then punched, kicked and hit him about a block from his home, as he called out for his mother. Video also shows the officers milling about and even laughing as Nichols struggled with his injuries.

Smith “took ownership” and said he had failed, Householder testified. The FBI agent also acknowledged that Smith cried during the interview.

“He was certainly remorseful,” Householder said.

Bean also accepted responsibility and told Householder that he had previously omitted information about the beating because he did not want to be labeled a “snitch,” the FBI agent testified.

“He didn’t want to throw his team under the bus,” Householder said.

Householder said he did not record the interviews. Under questioning by Bean’s lawyer, John Keith Perry, Householder acknowledged that some agents do record such interviews, which are summarized by FBI agents and known as proffers. But the recordings are not required, Householder said.

Taylor Chesser, a nurse who treated Nichols in the emergency room, said he was in cardiac arrest and not breathing when he arrived at the hospital. Chesser said medical providers eventually were able to restore his heart beat.

Nichols was “dead until we intervened,” Chesser said.

Prosecutors rested their case after her testimony.

Lawyers for the three officers then requested an acquittal based on claims that prosecutors have failed to present enough evidence.

Earlier Thursday, Mills testified he had not previously seen Bean nor Smith participate in the “street tax,” which is police slang for punishing people who run away from police. Prosecutors maintain officers employed the “street tax” or “run tax ” against Nichols.

The officers were part of a since-disbanded crime suppression unit. Under cross-examination from Smith's lawyer, Martin Zummach, Mills said he got to know Smith well in the two years they rode together with the Scorpion Unit. Mills said he had not previously seen Smith abuse people and Smith would not tolerate other officers mistreating suspects.

Mills, who used pepper spray on Nichols and hit him with a baton, said it’s possible that the beating could have ended if one of the officers had said to stop.

Mills, who cried on the stand and apologized during testimony earlier in the week, said Thursday that he “couldn’t hold it no more” after seeing the video of the beating.

“I wasn’t going to stand and say I did right,” Mills said.

Bean, Haley and Smith face up to life in prison if convicted.

The five officers also have been charged with second-degree murder in state court, where they pleaded not guilty. Mills and Martin are expected to change their pleas. A trial date in state court has not been set.

Associated Press reporter Kimberlee Kruesi contributed from Nashville, Tennessee.

Former Memphis police officer Tadarrius Bean, left, arrives at the federal courthouse with his attorney John Keith Perry, right, for the day's proceedings during the trial in the Tyre Nichols case Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Former Memphis police officer Justin Smith arrives at the federal courthouse for the day's proceedings during the trial in the Tyre Nichols case Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Former Memphis police officer Desmond Mills, left, arrives at the federal courthouse with his attorney Blake Ballin, right, to testify against his former colleagues during the trial in the Tyre Nichols case Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

RowVaughn Wells, mother of Tyre Nichols, closes her eyes during a prayer vigil outside the federal courthouse during the trial of three former Memphis police officers accused of killing her son Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)