Kelly O'Donnell

American journalist
the Australian footballer and coach

Kelly O'Donnell (born May 17, 1965) is an American journalist. She is a political reporter for NBC News as White House and Capitol Hill correspondent. She appears on NBC Nightly News, Today, Meet The Press, and MSNBC.

O'Donnell graduated from Northwestern University She had served as news anchor and substitute host on the Weekend Today program and the weekend edition of Nightly News. She has contributed reports to the primetime news magazine Dateline NBC. O'Donnell has covered the Bush administration, Congress, and several presidential campaigns. In 2016, she was the first to report live on television that Hillary Clinton had called Donald Trump over the phone to concede the presidential election. During the Iraq war, she was embedded with the 3rd Infantry Division, stationed in Baghdad and Qatar. In addition, O'Donnell has reported a wide variety of events, including the September 11 attacks, the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the O. J. Simpson trial. O'Donnell reported on the travels and death of Pope John Paul II. She also covered both summer and winter Olympic games. and the Ohio Radio/Television Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2017, O'Donnell was awarded the Northwestern Alumni Medal—the highest honor given by the Northwestern Alumni Association. She has received many honors, including Emmy awards, a National Headliner award, a New Hampshire Primary Award for Political Reporting, and Los Angeles Press Club awards.

Kelly grew up in Mentor, Ohio. She graduated Villa Angela Academy (now Villa Angela St. Joseph High School), a Catholic school in Cleveland. O'Donnell's grandparents on both sides came from Ireland and she maintains Irish citizenship. She is married to J. David Ake.