Geoff Bennett, Chief Washington Correspondent
Geoff Bennett is the chief Washington correspondent for PBS NewsHour. He is also a political contributor for NBC News and MSNBC. Bennett joined NewsHour from NBC News, where he was a White House correspondent and substitute anchor for MSNBC.
He has reported from the White House under three presidents and has covered five presidential elections. At NBC, Bennett covered the Trump and Biden administrations and earned recognition for his in-depth and exclusive reporting on the delivery delays at the U.S. Postal Service.
An award-winning political correspondent, Bennett provided extensive coverage of the first Trump impeachment inquiry and broke several stories regarding the Trump administration’s migrant family separation policy. His coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic included exclusive interviews with veteran CDC staffers about Trump-era political interference into the agency’s coronavirus response.
Bennett’s headline-making reporting also includes a number of newsmaker conversations, including the first television interview with Sec. John Kerry upon being named President Biden’s special envoy for climate, as well as an exclusive interview with Virginia Governor Ralph Northam after he signed legislation making Virginia the first state in the South to abolish the death penalty.
Before joining NBC News in November 2017, Bennett covered the Trump White House and Congress for NPR. Prior to that role, he reported on the Obama administration and national politics for NY1 News in New York City and more than a dozen other Time Warner-owned cable news stations across the country. While at NY1, Bennett was first to report the permanent
congressional reauthorization of health monitoring and treatment for 9/11 first responders. During that time, he also guest hosted C-SPAN’s Washington Journal — a live, three-hour news and public affairs program. Previously, Bennett was an editor with NPR’s Weekend Edition. He began his journalism career at ABC News’ World News Tonight in New York City after graduating from Morehouse College. He and his wife live in the Washington, D.C. area with their son.