Margaret Brennan

Margaret Brennan is moderator of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on CBS. Based in Washington, D.C., Brennan is also the Network's chief foreign affairs correspondent and a contributing correspondent to 60 Minutes. Additionally, she appears regularly on the "CBS Evening News," leading coverage from Washington when news breaks on the political and foreign affairs fronts.

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.

World leaders including Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump, Vice Presidents Kamala Harris and Mike Pence, 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 Speakers Mike Johnson, Kevin McCarthy and Nancy Pelosi. In January 2025, Brennan had the first interview with Vice President JD Vance since taking office as vice president. In October 2024, Brennan co-moderated the only vice presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle on CBS between then-Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

As the second woman to host the venerable CBS News broadcast, Brennan has continued the "Face the Nation" legacy as America's premier Sunday morning public affairs program and helped propel it to become the most watched in its category for five consecutive years, beginning with the 2021-2022 television season. In 2023, the broadcast was recognized with a Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in TV Political Journalism, citing Brennan's moderating approach as "measured, completely consistent, researched and prepared." 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 its pandemic coverage, with the judges noting "this coverage was exactly what the country needed at the time." In 2020, "Face the Nation" also earned a Wilbur Award from the Religion Communications Council for its 2019 feature on bipartisanship with Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) and Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE). Brennan won an Emmy Award for her 2018 "Face the Nation" interview with the father of a student killed in the Parkland High School shooting, which was included in CBS News' "39 Days" documentary that took viewers inside the creation of a movement as students turned grief into action.

She was recognized in 2023 with Multichannel News' annual "Woman of Influence" award.

Brennan's "Face the Nation" interviews with leaders, scientists, and newsmakers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic earned the broadcast two 2021 Emmy Award nominations: the first for outstanding news analysis, and the second for coverage of the tension between the U.S. and Iran. The broadcast also received two Emmy nominations in 2022 for its coverage of the collapse of Afghanistan as the Taliban took over and for Brennan's exclusive interview with Dr. Deborah Birx, White House COVID-19 Response Task Force Coordinator under President Trump, in which she detailed the challenges and pitfalls of the role under that administration. Brennan's interview with then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy-during which he blamed Democrats for the near-government shutdown, a moment that played a role in his ouster two days later-was nominated for a 2024 Emmy Award. Most recently, "Face the Nation" earned another Emmy nomination in 2025 for the program's coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.

She joined CBS News in 2012 and has held roles including State Department and White House correspondent. Brennan has broken multiple stories, including the news that members of the Trump Cabinet discussed invoking the 25th Amendment following the January 6th 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.

Prior to joining CBS News, Brennan spent a decade covering the global financial markets. She anchored and reported for Bloomberg Television around the globe. Before that, she was a correspondent at CNBC with a focus on consumer issues 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 board member of the Council on Foreign Relations, as well as a board member and Center Scholar for the University of Virginia Center for Politics. Brennan is also a member of the Gridiron Club.

Brennan graduated with 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, D.C. with her husband Yado Yakub and their two sons.