Laura Jarrett is a co-anchor of Saturday TODAY who announced the Donald Trump hush money trial verdict live on air, reading out the guilty verdict for each of the 34 counts as throngs of people cheered and jeered in the streets of New York City.
Jarrett, a lawyer and legal analyst, has been covering the historic trial all along. On May 30, Trump became the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime. He hadpleaded not guiltyto 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment made by his former lawyer Michael Cohen to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential election.
Jarrett distinctly remembers the moment that set her on the path to covering Trump's trial — the moment she decided to leave a safe career in law to pursue her dream of being a legal analyst on TV.
“I was a six-year law associate at my law firm, and starting to think about whether I wanted to try and make partner,” she told TODAY.com in a September interview. "And I realized there was no path for me that I was going to enjoy long term."
Jarrett, who was 30 at the time, knew that if she was going to change careers — it had to happen quickly.
“I felt like if I didn’t jump before I had kids, I wasn’t going to have the courage to do it — and I didn’t want to get stuck,” she explains.
Jarrett wanted to be a TV news legal analyst.
“I’ve always loved putting the puzzle pieces together and figuring out how to tell a complicated story in the most straightforward and compelling way as possible,” Jarrett says.
With no TV experience, she says she began “knocking on doors of local news stations." She was willing to start at the bottom.
“They were like, ‘Get out of here. No thanks,’” Jarrett recalls with a laugh. “But I just kept hustling"
CNN was the first network to bite.
“They put me on at 4 in the morning,” Jarrett says. “Even though I knew no one was watching at that hour, I was so nervous. I’d be horrified if someone dug up the clip, but it would also make me smile because it would remind me how far I’ve come.”
“I worked hard to get to where I am,” she adds.
After six years with CNN, Jarrett joined NBC News as a senior legal correspondent in January 2023. Seven months later, Laura was announced as co-host of Saturday TODAY, replacing Kristen Welker who was named moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press.Jarrett began her new role on Sept. 9, alongside Peter Alexander.
Jarrett says she hit her stride at CNN, right after Donald Trump was elected President of the United States in 2016. She remembers “basically living” at the United States Department of Justice. While Jarrett was the new kid in town, everyone was familiar with her mother, Valerie Jarrett, who served as senior advisor to President Barack Obama during his eight years in office.
“My mom worked in the Obama White House and I was being asked to cover the Trump justice department,” Jarrett shares. “I had to work really hard to earn those people's trust."
Jarrett, who was working around the clock, was happier than she’d ever been, and it wasn’t lost on her husband, Tony Balkissoon.
“Tony would say, ‘You’re so happy. You’re so excited about your work — and it makes you a better partner,'” Jarrett says.
She and Tony met as second-year law students at Harvard University in 2008, and tied the knot in 2012. The couple share 4-year-old son, James, and 13-month-old daughter, June.
“Tony and I waited a while before we had children, which I think was super valuable because we just got to have fun. Kids are wonderful, but they can be extremely taxing on marriages,” Jarrett says. “We had a ball just the two of us for a long time and I think that really set us up for success.”
Jarrett is excited about sharing the anchor desk with Peter Alexander, who is dad of daughters Ava, 10, and Emma, 8.
“He’s so decent and smart and he’s a good listener,” she says. “His girls are a little bit older — so he can give me tips for what’s coming down the pike!”
On her first day behind the anchor desk Sept. 9, Jarrett shared that she got about 2 hours of sleep the night before due to nerves and partly for a reason many parents can relate to: potty training.
"The sleep is not happening in the house, but that is OK," she said.
After her TV appearances each morning, Jarrett will “rush home” to make breakfast for her kids before continuing the work day, she said.
Read on to learn more about Laura Jarrett's two children:
James Anthony Balkissoon, 4
James is a “ham and a half,” according to his mother.
“That boy takes over a room. He just has a presence,” Jarrett says. “He talks nonstop and has 1001 questions about everything.”
The preschooler also has a wide variety of interests, including Sudoko puzzles.
“I was trying to help him the other day and I was getting the answers wrong! He’s already smarter than me,” Jarrett jokes.
“We’ll be at the park on the swing, and he’ll ask me to give him math problems,” she continues. “It’s fun for him — he’s super brainy — but I’m worried people are going to be judging me, like, ‘Why is this mom putting her son through math drills?”
As a baby, James was “so hard,” Jarrett says.
“He cried constantly. I’d take him on walks and he would cry. I would take him in the car and he would cry. He was exhausting,” she recalls. “I couldn’t wait for maternity leave to end. I was like, ‘Get me back to work!’”
Thankfully, James is much easier these days. Jarrett says life got easier when he started talking and could express what he was feeling. Lately, James has been vocal about his baby sister, June, stealing his toys.
“At first, he was very gentle and doting and also immediately interested in making her bottles,” she says. “But now that she’s starting to crawl and walk — she’s in his stuff and he’s not happy!"
On TODAY, Jarrett's husband Tony shared that James is "very proud" to see his mom on TV and how hard she works.
"I just watch her tell the news to everybody," James said, when asked about Jarrett's job.
June Tahay Balkissoon, 13 months
June, who was born on July 17, 2022, is named after Laura’s mother, Valerie June Jarrett, and Tony’s mother, Tahay.
“If I could have drawn up James’s polar opposite, it would be June,” Jarrett says. “There could be chaos and utter destruction going on around her and she’d be quietly playing and laughing.”
The toddler is “completely enthralled and entertained” by her big brother.
“I sit them next to each other while they’re eating dinner — James in his big chair, and June in her highchair —and she’s just petting his head,” Jarrett says. “She adores him.”
June also loves food.
“She will literally eat anything and be happy about it. If she gets cranky, it’s because you have food and you’re not sharing with her,” Jarrett says. “You can hand her a Sichuan green bean and she’s down.”
