William Bret Baier ( ; born August 4, 1970) is the host of ''

Special Report with Bret Baier '' Special Report with Bret Baier'' (formerly ''Special Report with Brit Hume'') is an American television news and political commentary program, hosted by Bret Baier since 2009, that airs on Fox News Channel. It is broadcast live each Monday thr ...

'' on the Fox News Channel and the chief political correspondent for Fox. He previously worked as the network's Chief White House Correspondent and Pentagon correspondent.

Early life

Baier was born in

Rumson, New Jersey Rumson is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the borough’s population was 7,343, reflecting a 3.1% increase from the 7,122 enumera ...

, to a family of mixed German and Irish origins. Raised Catholic, he attended Marist School, a private Roman Catholic high school in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, graduating in 1988. Baier then attended the methodist

DePauw University DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the ...

Greencastle, Indiana Greencastle is a city in Greencastle Township, Putnam County, Indiana, United States, and the county seat of Putnam County. It was founded in 1821 by Ephraim Dukes on a land grant. He named the settlement for his hometown of Greencastle, Pennsylv ...

, graduating in 1992 with a BA degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and English. At DePauw, he became a member of the Xi Chapter of the

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American fraternal literary societies. The fraternity has 244 active (undergraduate) chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has initiated more t ...

fraternity.

Career

President Trump at the Fox News Town Hall (49627380273)

Baier began his television career with a local station WJWJ TV16 on

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina Hilton Head Island, sometimes referred to as simply Hilton Head, is a Lowcountry resort town and barrier island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is northeast of Savannah, Georgia, and southwest of Charleston. The island is n ...

, before joining

WRAL-TV WRAL-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Research Triangle area. It is the flagship station of the locally based Capitol Broadcasting Company, which h ...

, then

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

affiliate in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southe ...

. He sent an audition tape to Fox News in 1998, and was hired as the network's

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

bureau chief. On

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

, he drove from Georgia to

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...

, to cover the attack on

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a meton ...

. He never returned to the Atlanta bureau and was instead tapped as the network's Pentagon correspondent, remaining at the post for five years and taking 11 trips to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and 13 trips to

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

. He was named Fox News's

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

correspondent in 2007, covering the administration of George W. Bush. In the fall of 2007, he began substituting for

Brit Hume Alexander Britton Hume (born June 22, 1943), known professionally as Brit Hume, is an American journalist and political commentator. Hume had a 23-year career with ABC News, where he contributed to ''World News Tonight with Peter Jennings'', ''N ...

, then the anchor of ''Special Report'', on Fridays. On December 23, 2008, Hume anchored his final show and announced Baier would replace him as anchor of ''Special Report''. He hosted his first show as permanent anchor on January 5, 2009. In October 2021, Baier promoted his new book ''To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876'' on '' The Late Show'' with

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program '' The Colbert Report'' from 2005 ...

Recognition

*2016 Kenneth Y. Tomlinson Award for Outstanding Journalism, Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship Program *2017 Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism,

National Press Foundation The National Press Foundation is a nonprofit journalism training organization. It educates journalists on complex issues and trains them in reporting tools and techniques. It recognizes and encourages excellence in journalism through its awards. ...

*2018 Urbino Press Award, Municipality of Urbino

Personal life

Baier, who served as an

altar boy An altar server is a lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a Christian liturgy. An altar server attends to supporting tasks at the altar such as fetching and carrying, ringing the altar bell, helps bring up the gifts, brings up the book ...

in his youth, is a practicing

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

and attends Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown. Baier and his wife Amy have two sons, Daniel and Paul. Paul was born with cardiac problems and before the child's open-heart surgery in 2008, President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

invited Baier and his wife and son to the Oval Office for a visit and had the White House

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

update him on Paul's progress. In 2009, Baier was named a "Significant Sig" by the Sigma Chi Fraternity.Significant Sigs , Sigma Chi Fraternity
accessed October 12, 2014.

Works

* ''Special Heart: A Journey of Faith, Hope, Courage and Love'' (2014) * ''Three Days in January: Dwight Eisenhower's Final Mission'' (2017) * ''Three Days in Moscow: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Empire'' (2018) * ''Three Days at the Brink: FDR’s Daring Gamble to Win World War II'' (2019) * ''To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876'' (2021)

References

External links

FOX News Channel: Bret Baier bio
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baier, Bret 1970 births Living people DePauw University alumni Fox News people Marist School (Georgia) alumni People from Dunwoody, Georgia People from Rumson, New Jersey Catholics from New Jersey Catholics from Georgia (U.S. state) 21st-century American journalists