Margaret Brennan
Margaret Brennan | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Brennan on the set of Face the Nation in 2018 | |
| Born | March 26, 1980 Stamford, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Education | University of Virginia (BA) |
| Notable credits |
|
| Spouse |
Yado Yakub (m. 2015) |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | cbsnews |
Margaret Brennan (born March 26, 1980) is an American journalist who currently leads as the moderator of Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan on CBS News. She holds the position of chief foreign affairs correspondent at CBS and occasionally anchors CBS Evening News. Since 2012, she has also reported from Washington as a White House correspondent for the network.
Prior to her tenure at CBS, Brennan hosted InBusiness with Margaret Brennan on Bloomberg Television and contributed as a correspondent for both CNBC and NBC News.
She is a board member of the Council on Foreign Relations, belongs to the Gridiron Club, and participates on advisory committees at the University of Virginia School as well as the Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School at University College Dublin.
Early life and education
Margaret Brennan was born in Stamford, Connecticut to Edward Brennan and Jane Brennan, who was an elementary school art instructor. She is of Irish heritage.
She completed her secondary education with honors in 1998 at the Convent of the Sacred Heart located in Greenwich, Connecticut. In 2002, she graduated from the University of Virginia with highest distinction, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in foreign affairs and Middle Eastern studies, complemented by a minor in Arabic. Her thesis was recognized with an Emmerich-Wright scholarship. Additionally, she studied internationally at Yarmouk University in Jordan under a Fulbright-Hays Grant.
In recognition of her impact on international relations, Brennan was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Niagara University in 2015.
CNBC
Brennan launched her career in business journalism in 2002 at CNBC, where she worked as a producer for financial journalist Louis Rukeyser, supporting his weekly program Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street and related specials. Subsequently, she produced Street Signs with Ron Insana, managing guest coordination and securing interviews with notable figures such as former president George W. Bush and former secretary of state Colin Powell.
As a correspondent for CNBC, she reported extensively on the 2008 financial crisis, emphasizing consumer-related topics. Her interviews included conversations with former Walmart CEO Lee Scott and Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen. She was also responsible for breaking news about the 2009 liquidation of Circuit City, while frequently covering evolving consumer behavior trends.
Bloomberg Television
On June 24, 2009, Brennan transitioned from CNBC to Bloomberg Television. She served as the anchor for InBusiness with Margaret Brennan, a weekday show broadcast live from the New York Stock Exchange, focusing on significant political, economic, and international financial developments that influence the markets.
Throughout her time at Bloomberg, she delivered live reports from cities including Riyadh, Dubai, Cairo, London, Dublin, Abu Dhabi, and Davos. Brennan covered critical events such as the European debt crisis, the largest insider trading scandal in the U.S., and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Notably, she anchored live coverage from Tahrir Square during the 2011 Egyptian revolution when Hosni Mubarak resigned.
Her interviews featured influential personalities like Christine Lagarde of the International Monetary Fund, investor George Soros, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Ireland's head of government, and Dubai’s ruler amidst financial turmoil. Additionally, she co-anchored Bloomberg’s broadcast of the 2012 Republican presidential debates.
Brennan left Bloomberg in 2012 to explore new career paths; her last InBusiness episode aired on April 27, 2012.
CBS News
Brennan joined CBS News in July 2012, operating out of Washington. She reported on White House affairs during both the Obama and Trump administrations for various CBS programs and frequently served as a substitute host on CBS This Morning and the CBS Evening News. Brennan was part of the CBS team honored with the 2012-2013 Alfred I. Dupont-Columbia Award for their coverage of the Newtown tragedy.
Her journalism included assignments in Tehran, Baghdad, Kabul, Beijing, and Havana, concentrating on diplomatic negotiations such as the Iran nuclear accord, Syria’s chemical weapons deal, and Cuba’s reopening to the U.S. She conducted the first U.S. interview with South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, highlighting her firm position on North Korea.
This interview attracted attention both in Pyongyang and Seoul, where Brennan’s interviewing approach was notably analyzed.
She was among the initial journalists to interview Hillary Clinton regarding the deadly assault on the U.S. mission in Libya.
At a September 9, 2013 press briefing, Brennan questioned Secretary of State John Kerry about Syria avoiding a U.S. military strike. Kerry’s remarks about Assad potentially surrendering chemical weapons prompted Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov to suggest this as a resolution to the conflict.
On February 22, 2018, Brennan assumed the role of the 10th moderator for Face the Nation, CBS's Sunday political interview program, becoming its second female moderator. On October 1, 2024, she co-moderated CBS’ 2024 United States vice presidential debate.
Comments on free speech in Nazi Germany
During a February 2025 edition of Face the Nation, Secretary of State Marco Rubio Brennan criticized Vice President of the United States JD Vance’s address at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, stating: "he was speaking in a nation where free speech was exploited as a tool to carry out a genocide."
Honors and awards
Irish America magazine honored her as one of the leading Irish Americans and included her among the top 100 Irish-Americans excelling in business and media. In 2003, the NewsBios/TJFR Group recognized her as one of the premier journalists under 30.
In 2010, Brennan was awarded the Fulbright Award for International Understanding.
She earned an Emmy Award for "Outstanding News Special" with her coverage of the Parkland High School shooting, and received two additional Emmy nominations for "Outstanding News Analysis" focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic and Iran–United States relations.
Brennan was honored with a Wilbur Award from the Religion Communicators Council in 2020. The following year, she secured first place at the National Headliner Awards for her reporting on COVID-19 in the segment titled "Facing the Pandemic."
Personal life
On April 11, 2015, Brennan wed Yado Yakub, a Syrian-American attorney serving as a judge advocate in the United States Marine Corps. She revealed her first pregnancy during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in April 2018; their son was born on September 11, 2018. In December 2020, Brennan announced her second pregnancy through Instagram, and their second son arrived on April 28, 2021.
External links
- 1980 births
- Living people
- 21st-century American women journalists
- 21st-century American journalists
- American people of Irish descent
- American television reporters and correspondents
- American women television journalists
- Bloomberg L.P. people
- CBS News people
- CNBC people
- People from Stamford, Connecticut
- Schools of the Sacred Heart alumni
- University of Virginia alumni
- Yarmouk University alumni