After serving as a White House correspondent between 2008 and 2011 and as co-anchor of the MSNBC program The Daily Rundown in 2010 and 2011,[4] Guthrie was announced as the co-host of Today's third hour alongside Natalie Morales[5] and Al Roker.

[13] Guthrie's first job in broadcasting was at KTVM, the NBC affiliate in Butte, Montana; she started in October 1993, but on her 10th day at the station, the local news operation was closed.

[8] After working several years as a broadcast journalist, Guthrie chose to resume her higher education, receiving a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center, where she graduated magna cum laude in 2002.

She also was a member of Order of the Coif and received the International Academy of Trial Lawyers' Student Advocacy award for her work with victims of domestic violence.

Guthrie worked for the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, where she served as a litigation associate, specializing in white-collar criminal defense.

[17] She covered Sarah Palin's 2008 vice-presidential race from Fairbanks, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, Sioux City, Iowa, and Washington.

After Guthrie substituted for both Meredith Vieira and Ann Curry on Today, it was confirmed on May 9, 2011 that she would become co-host of the 9 a.m. hour alongside Natalie Morales and Al Roker, and the show's Chief Legal Editor.

Guthrie departed The Daily Rundown for Today on June 9, 2011,[19] at which time she was appointed NBC News chief legal analyst, making her first appearance in this role on May 25, 2011.

[21] On November 29, 2017, Guthrie welcomed Hoda Kotb as cohost after Lauer’s longstanding practice of sexual assault & harassment of young female colleagues became public.

[citation needed] Since 2012, she has hosted the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade[23] on NBC and the annual Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting.

Guthrie pressed him on issues of his debts, coronavirus response and refusal to outright condemn the right-wing conspiracy theory of QAnon.

[27] In 2018, she played alongside compatriot Jack Sock in an exhibition tennis match against Swiss Roger Federer and American Bill Gates.

In December 2005, Guthrie married English-born BBC News presenter Mark Orchard, whom she met while covering the trial of Michael Jackson.

In late 2009, she began a relationship with Democratic political and communications consultant Michael Feldman[8] while vacationing in the Turks and Caicos Islands.