Margaret Brennan, "Face the Nation" moderator, reveals she's pregnant during Colbert appearance
"Face The Nation" moderator and CBS News senior affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan taped an interview Monday night for CBS' "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," and she reported on "breaking personal news" of her own. Brennan announced she and her husband Maj. Yado Yakub are having their first child.
"I do have some breaking personal news, my husband and I are going to be welcoming a baby in September," Brennan, 38, told Colbert.
"Get some sleep now," Colbert joked, before giving her a baby-sized onesie with the show's logo on it.
The happy news comes months after she succeeded John Dickerson to become the new face of CBS News' "Face The Nation." Brennan is the only woman currently serving as a solo anchor of a major Sunday political affairs show. She talked about her experience so far with Colbert.
"Face the Nation" also sent out a congratulatory tweet Monday night:
"It's so exciting for me, but also a huge responsibility," she said. "It's a 63-year institution. Bob Schieffer before John Dickerson had me on so many times as panelist. I've always loved it because you can have a conversation."
"But I think now that I'm in a moderator's position, it's such a gift to be able to dig into so many of these issues. Because the news cycle is in hyperdrive we often just whip through, there's so many news stories all at once these days because the president has us on this hyperdrive. That being in the chair now, I feel the responsibility to try to have some context and have a civil conversation."
Colbert noted the speed of news could impact planning around her show, which airs Sunday mornings on CBS.
"Sometimes you get to Sunday and you're like what month was that, that happened," she said. "You're like 'My god it was just Wednesday.' We're constantly readjusting."
The comedian asked Brennan about the Iran nuclear deal and speculation over the plans of President Trump, who has stated his ardent displeasure with the agreement.
"As France's president recently said to a small group of journalists including myself, 'People often to say your president is unpredictable, but I think he's very predictable if you just look what he said on the campaign trail,'" Brennan said. "And what did he say on the campaign trail? 'Worst deal ever I'm out.' That's his brand and he's going to stick to it."
Brennan attended the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington over the weekend. She told Colbert there was an "awkwardness" in the room during comedian Michelle Wolf's controversial skit, which took aim at President Trump, White House officials and mainstream media.
"I'm not a person who's going to criticize the comedian, that's not what I do," she said. "We were there to support the First Amendment. We can't be perceived to be having opinions in a way that puts us in a 'us versus them' narrative."
Since 2012, Brennan has been based in Washington and has reported on the Trump administration, and previously President Obama's administration, for all CBS News programs. Previously, Brennan covered the State Department for four years, where she reported on major national security stories including nuclear negotiations 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 was also part of the CBS News team honored with a 2012-2013 Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Award for coverage of the Newtown tragedy.
Brennan has been reporting on politics, the economy, and foreign relations since 2002. Prior to joining CBS News, Brennan spent a decade covering global finance, anchoring a weekday show on Bloomberg Television called "InBusiness with Margaret Brennan." She was also a correspondent at CNBC, and she contributed to various NBC News programs.
A Connecticut native, Brennan graduated with highest distinction from the University of Virginia, 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, she is a term member at the Council on Foreign Relations, and she sits on the Advisory Board for the University of Virginia School of Politics.
