“Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie is weighing a permanent exit from the top-rated morning show as the frantic search for her mother, Nancy Guthrie, drags into its third week, sources tell NewsNation’s Paula Froelich.
Savannah Guthrie has been on leave as the FBI and authorities in Pima County, Arizona, pursue investigative leads into Nancy Guthrie’s Feb. 1 disappearance from her Tucson area home. It’s believed the 84-year-old grandmother was taken, and media outlets have received bitcoin ransom demands.
“This absolutely came out of the blue, and I think she’s really concerned that it was because of her job,” Froelich, NewsNation senior story editor, told “NewsNation Prime” on Saturday.
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She said Savannah Guthrie reportedly wonders if past exposure she has given to her mother on “Today,” including a segment from Nancy Guthrie’s home, planted ideas in the minds of people “with bad characters.” Froelich says it’s widely known that Savannah Guthrie is well-compensated at the NBC show, which she has co-hosted since 2012.
Moving forward, Froelich said, security for her family will be top of mind for Savannah Guthrie. She and her two siblings have appeared in social-media videos pleading for the return of their mother.
No arrests have been made in Nancy Guthrie’s presumed kidnapping. Local police and FBI executed a federal search warrant Friday evening at a Tucson home and detained three people as authorities pursued a lead, the Pima County sheriff said.