NEW YORK -- After 15 months at the helm of MSNBC, legal analyst Dan Abrams is stepping down as general manager and returning to hosting full-time, the cable news network announced Monday.
In a statement, NBC News President Steve Capus praised Abrams and said his return on-air will help strengthen the network's lineup. Phil Griffin, a NBC News senior vice president who has had oversight of the cable network, will take over its daily operations in mid-October, when MSNBC moves from its New Jersey home to NBC's Rockefeller Center headquarters.
Abrams, whose appointment last summer was widely viewed as a surprise move, said he was relinquishing the general manager post voluntarily.
For the last three months, he has been filling in during the 6 p.m. hour for host Joe Scarborough, who shifted to the early morning in May. When Abrams' ad hoc show did well in the ratings, Griffin asked him to consider taking over the time slot full-time.