Norah O'Donnell will do double duty on 'CBS Mornings,' '60 Minutes'

Gone from morning TV since 2019, Norah O'Donnell will return as co-host of "CBS Mornings" effective Tuesday, the network announced Thursday. This means O'Donnell, 52, who has been ascendant at the Bari Weiss-led CBS News, will soon have two key roles at the network — as morning host and full-time "60 Minutes" correspondent.

In an internal memo, "CBS Mornings" senior broadcast producer Jon Tower wrote, "As we all know, for seven years, Norah helped lead 'CBS This Morning' [renamed 'CBS Mornings' in 2021] alongside Gayle [King], creating one of the most memorable partnerships in the history of morning news."

In March, King, 71, signed a new contract to continue on the program where she's been the last 14 years. Various TV industry news sites have reported King's contract ends in May, which has led to speculation that she will leave after that.

For now anyway, King, O'Donnell and Nate Burleson will lead "CBS Mornings," which remains in third place (1.7 million viewers on average, or down 9% from a year ago) behind "Today" and "Good Morning America" (around 3 million, which saw slight increases this year).

After the fiery departure of Scott Pelley in June — he was fired from "60 Minutes" following a confrontation with the new showrunner, Nick Bilton, and CBS News editor-in-chief Weiss — O'Donnell is now the de facto on-air leader of CBS News. After a distinguished run at NBC News, where she was chief Washington correspondent, O'Donnell joined CBS in 2011 as chief White House correspondent then became "Evening News" anchor in 2019. (In 2025, O'Donnell was replaced by Port Jefferson native and longtime WCBS/2 anchor Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson, both of whom have since been replaced by Tony Dokoupil.)

O'Donnell, who also hosts a women's health podcast, has had practice at holding down two big jobs. She contributed to "60 Minutes" for years while co-hosting the morning show and anchoring "Evening News." This time is different: She is now a full-time "60" correspondent on a show that remains in turmoil after Weiss fired some of the program's most experienced producers and seasoned correspondents — Cecilia Vega, Sharyn Alfonsi and Pelley.