In 2021, Tom Llamas returned to NBC News after several years at ABC News — and that is just
one piece of this accomplished journalist's story. The hard working news man has been
a fixture on TV screens for years, but there's a lot you may not know about him.
In 2017, Tom Llamas was appointed as the sole anchorman of the Saturday
edition of ABC News' "World News Tonight". As a result,
he found himself battling for viewers with the man who had helped to guide his career.
Yes, NBC Nightly News host José Díaz-Balart proved to be a major source of inspiration
both before and during Llamas' ascent up the national news ladder, as he told TVNewser -
"I watched him growing up. José was one of the trailblazers in Miami as far as Cuban-American
reporters who went to the network. And I met him when we both worked at the NBC station in Miami.
It's wonderful to find a friend like [him] in the business, somebody you can turn to,
and talk to, who can give you advice. We're both grateful."
So how did Llamas feel about the fact that his former mentor had become his ratings nemesis?
According to him -
"We're competitors, but José will always be my friend."
Díaz-Balart appeared to prove this two years later when he
tweeted a smiley pic of the pair captioned -
"What a pleasure seeing Tom Llamas. A star today. A legend tomorrow."
Tom Llamas isn't the only member of his family with experience in the world of 24-hour news
television. Wife Jennifer Llamas is a broadcast and journalism graduate who once served as an
executive producer for MSNBC, but as the "NBC News Now" host explained to TVNewser in 2017,
her career has now taken a backseat to his -
"After our second child, she decided to stop working. It was the right decision for our family.
She's my biggest cheerleader, my biggest supporter, and she's my biggest critic!"
The year prior, TVNewser reported Tom racked up more hours on air than any other evening
network correspondent providing coverage of Donald Trump's presidential bid. And he was
keen to point out that Jennifer had been a tower of strength during this period -
"I was away from home so much, and thankfully I have a wonderful wife who worked in the business,
who understands the business, and so she understood what an incredible opportunity
it was. But she was essentially raising two kids while I was on the road, so it was tough."
"Those months apart were the hardest of my life for sure. I honestly hope you don't remember."
While signing off of his last broadcast on "ABC World News Tonight", Llamas said this -
"I am the son of immigrants, and because of that, I have never taken for granted the opportunity
or the responsibility to be able to sit at this desk and bring you the truth."
Yes, you might not know that the journalist's parents fled their homeland in the aftermath
of the Cuban Revolution to avoid political persecution and set up a new life in Miami.
And their son has always been proud of their remarkable sacrifice.
In a 2017 interview with HuffPost, Llamas said -
"It's crazy to think what my parents and really my grandparents did. They left a country where
they had jobs and were successful and came here not speaking the language and had no money. To
start from scratch is just amazing but they did it and put their kids through college."
Tom Llamas is something of a journeyman, having consistently moved jobs since landing
his first broadcasting gig at the turn of the century with the NBC News Specials Unit.
As noted in his biography on the Loyola University New Orleans website,
he covered 9/11, the War in Afghanistan, and presidential campaigns while he was with MSNBC.
Stints with his hometown's WTVJ, New York's WNBC, and NBC News then followed. Then, he
was snapped up by ABC where he eventually became the only weekend anchor of "World News Tonight."
In 2021, Llamas got itchy feet again and subsequently rejoined the NBC News team
as a senior national correspondent. And in an official statement announcing the move,
the network's president Noah Oppenheim couldn't have been more delighted -
"Tom brings with him more than two decades of experience tenaciously covering the news
across multiple platforms and for many different audiences. [...] We're thrilled
that Tom will be bringing his expertise and passion to NBC News, NBC News Now and beyond."
Just days after Llamas moved from ABC News to NBC News, Deadline reported his new colleague
Lester Holt was given an extension and the new snazzy title of Managing Editor.
And some media watchers believe that the timing wasn't just coincidental.
Indeed, in a Page Six piece, several unnamed sources alleged that the "Nightly News with
Lester Holt" host had negotiated this new offer in a bid to further assert his position as top dog.
Another argued that Llamas' tight working connection with Cesar Conde,
the network's president, had perhaps scared Holt into taking action.
Daily Mail probably hadn't helped to put his mind at ease, either, when it reported earlier
that year that Llamas would be his eventual replacement. An insider told the outlet -
"Tom really has the potential to be the new face of NBC News
and take over from Lester Holt when the time is right."
Tom Llamas is quite the educated man. According to the Loyola University New Orleans website,
he scooped degrees in broadcast journalism and drama and speech from Loyola.
And the school is certainly proud to have Llamas as an alumni.
In 2015 they invited him back to induct him into their School of Mass Communication's Den
of Distinction. During an interview with The New Orleans Advocate about the honor, the
newsman acknowledged just how important a role his further education played in his career, saying -
"I had this great foundation. I knew how to write. I also knew how to edit tape. I could
run different kinds of technical aspects in the newsroom. I could produce. I knew how to make
graphics. Things like that, I learned at Loyola, and they definitely helped me in my first job."
Just like he was inspired by Cuban-American journalist José Díaz-Balart,
Tom Llamas now hopes to be a similarly aspirational figure
that other younger news junkies from multicultural backgrounds can look up to.
As Temple Update reported in 2020, Llamas talked to a group
of journalism students at North Philadelphia's Esperanza College
about how the industry can benefit from bilingualism and diversity. And he put
his money where his mouth is by offering his advice in both English and Spanish.
The then-ABC News anchor said -
"Diverse newsrooms are the best newsrooms because that way communities are fully covered.
You have every angle covered, every community covered and when you [have]
that your product just becomes better. Also, the way you look at stories and the
way you attack stories changes because you hear from everyone at the table."
Llamas inadvertently whipped up a rare bit of controversy in 2017
while reporting on the devastation caused in Houston by Hurricane Harvey.
According to MarketWatch, the newsman incurred the wrath of many Twitter users
after notifying local cops on the platform about some looting he'd witnessed first-hand.
Perhaps sensing that his popularity level had seriously plummeted,
Llamas returned to Twitter to do some damage limitation.
Yahoo! Entertainment reports that he claimed he hadn't specifically called the police
about the matter as he was already in constant communication with them. That didn't pacify his
detractors and the then-ABC News man eventually ended up deleting both of the offending tweets.
Llamas was given one of his most high-profile assignments in 2018:
Melania Trump's inaugural sit down TV interview as first lady. But some viewers
believed that the then-ABC News reporter gave his subject too much of an easy ride.
So what did Llamas do, or not do, to receive this criticism? Well, firstly,
he praised Melania for saying yes to a televised chat without reeling off a list of demands.
The journalist was also accused of allowing his interviewee to evade questions about allegations
of Donald Trump's infidelity and comments that his attorney Rudy Guiliani had made to Sean Hannity
in relation to them, with the former model getting about the most candid when she said -
"Media what is speculating, yeah, it's not always pleasant, of course."
Vanity Fair headlined their take on the chat -
"Melania Trump Spends an Hour-Long TV Interview Revealing Nothing,
and Chastising the Media for Asking"
Deadline noted how Llamas was eventually quote, "reduced to asking if she loves her husband."
In 2015, Tom Llamas' cheek was touched by Donald Trump following a presidential
campaign event at a New Hampshire high school. As ABC News reported, the future 45th touched
Llamas's face after the reporter remarked that the candidate was looking, quote, "fired up."
It's fair to say that things had soured significantly when they came face to
face at a 2016 news conference detailing Trump's fundraising efforts for veterans.
During a press conference where he laid into political reporters,
the former reality TV performer singled Llamas out for some typically bullish criticism, saying -
"What I don't want is, when I raise millions of dollars,
have people say — like this sleazy guy right over here from ABC; he's a sleaze in my book."
When Llamas asked why he'd been insulted, Trump responded with some questionable logic, saying -
"You're a sleaze because you know the facts and you know the facts well."
The journalist was later defended by an ABC spokesman who told Deadline -
"Tom is one of the best journalists in the
country. He is also one of the most respectful and respected."
Trump may well have targeted Llamas due to,
as ABC News reported, the newsman's previous objections to his use of "anchor baby,"
a derogatory term given to a child born in the United States to undocumented immigrants.
In 2016, Tom Llamas guested on "Good Morning America"
to talk about the death of Fidel Castro. Although the newsman's parents had left
Cuba as political exiles nearly two decades before he was born,
he could still remember the impact that the island nation leader's presence had on his childhood.
Llamas began the segment by describing Castro as a, quote,
"tyrant," "killer," and "liar" before adding -
"[Cuba] is cracked, it is faded, and the people are hungry,
and that should be the legacy of Fidel Castro."
But it was later on in the piece when the Loyola graduate recalled the times he and
his family used to send care packages that his emotions got the better of him.
A tearful Llamas said -
"Its citizens receive third-world health and I can remember night after night with
my family stuffing envelopes, greeting cards with medicines
and Kool-Aid just so they could have calories and that's what I remember."
It is rare to see Tom Llamas in the news rather than reporting it, but in 2013
he found himself in the headlines in rather unfortunate circumstances.
According to the New York Post, Llamas came home from a vacation only to find several valuable
items missing from his Manhattan residence, with total value reportedly being $20,800.
Officers were subsequently called to the scene but investigators couldn't
find any sign of a forced entry, and to make matters more difficult, there was
also a lack of surveillance video footage at Llamas' Time Warner Center apartment block.
Llamas may have interviewed presidential candidates,
reported on everything from the marathon bombing in Boston to ICE detention centers,
and gone through the modern-day newsman's rite of passage — be insulted by Donald
Trump. But that doesn't mean that he's averse to reporting on the more trivial side of life.
In a 2017 interview with HuffPost, the Loyola University graduate was asked whether he would
ever turn an assignment down. And he made it clear that no job is too big or too small, answering -
"Not really unless there is no news value.
News is also an acronym for what people need to know, what they should know
and what they want to know. If it's in one of those categories then I will do the story."
Llamas then referred to a recent segment
he filmed for "The Today Show" on turtles as an example, and said -
"People may not think that's a story but once they
see it they will understand that it's very interesting.
I like all types of stories ranging from people who are making a difference to breaking news."
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Nicki Swift videos about your favorite news anchors are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.