Margaret Brennan is the moderator of CBS News' Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan and CBS News' chief foreign affairs correspondent based in Washington, D.C.
Brennan became moderator of Face the Nation in February 2018 and quickly became known for her tough but fair questioning of world leaders, politicians, and policymakers. She brings to her coverage of domestic politics a background in national security and financial news.
Brennan's interviews with leaders, scientists, and newsmakers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic earned "Face the Nation" two Emmy Award nominations: the first for outstanding news analysis and the second nomination for coverage of the tension between the U.S. and Iran. World leaders including Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and French President Emmanuel Macron have been interviewed on the program by Brennan along with Republican and Democratic leaders, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
As the second woman to host the venerable CBS News broadcast, Brennan has continued the legacy of Face the Nation as America's premier Sunday morning public affairs program and helped propel it to be the most-watched in its category during the 2020-2021 television season. In 2021, Face the Nation won first place in the National Headliner Awards category for broadcast and cable coverage of a continuing news event for the show's pandemic coverage. The judges noted, "this coverage was exactly what the country needed at the time." In 2020, Face the Nation also earned Wilbur Award from the Religion Communications Council for its 2019 feature on bipartisanship with Senator James Lankford and Senator Chris Coons.
Brennan also won an Emmy for her 2018 Face the Nation interview with the father of a student killed in the Parkland high school shooting included in CBS News' 39 Days documentary that took viewers inside the creation of a movement as students turned grief into action.
She joined CBS News in 2012 and has held roles including State Department and White House Correspondent. While contributing across all CBS News broadcasts and platforms, Brennan has broken stories, including the news that members of the Trump Cabinet were discussing invoking the 25th amendment following the January 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol. She has covered historic moments such as the landmark nuclear deal with Iran, restoration of diplomatic ties with Cuba, the standoff with North Korea, the conflict in Ukraine, and the accord to transfer control of Syria's chemical weapons.
Brennan brings a wealth of reporting experience to the moderator chair on Face the Nation that sets her and the broadcast apart and provides nuanced coverage on pressing developments. Before joining CBS News, Brennan spent a decade covering the global financial markets. She anchored and reported for Bloomberg Television around the globe. Previously, she was a correspondent at CNBC focused on the consumer during the 2008 financial crisis and contributed to various NBC News programs. Brennan began her career as a producer for CNBC's Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser.
Brennan is a Council on Foreign Relations member and sits on the advisory board for the University of Virginia School of Politics and the Smurfit School of Business. She is also a member of the Gridiron Club.
Brennan graduated with the highest distinction from the University of Virginia in 2002, where she earned a bachelor's degree in foreign affairs and Middle East studies with a minor in Arabic. As a Fulbright-Hays Scholar, she studied Arabic at Yarmouk University in Irbid, Jordan. She is also the recipient of an honorary doctor of letters degree from Niagara University.
Brennan resides in Washington DC with her husband Yado Yakub and their two sons.
