CBS News journalist Catherine Herridge was recently terminated from her position and had her files seized as a House committee claims her termination may be a results of “investigations into the Biden family.”
On Friday, over 800 employees were terminated from CBS News’ parent company Paramount Global but many claim her firing was a coverup for thorough investigative reporting. The House Judiciary Committee is now demanding to know the truth in what led to her termination especially after all her files were seized.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) issued a letter to the President of CBS News, Ingrid Ciprián-Matthews, where he made it clear that she was investigating the Hunter Biden laptop and President Biden’s extended family and was this termination because she was digging too deep?
The letter from the committee chair also noted, “Currently Ms. Herridge is, and at the time of her termination was, engaged in a First Amendment-based legal dispute in which a federal judge threatened to hold her in contempt and levy significant fines if she did not divulge sources who gave her information about a federal investigation.”
Chairman Jordan’s letter set a deadline for March 1st for “a briefing to the Committee concerning the individual(s) at Paramount Global, CBS Broadcasting, Inc., or CBS News who made the decision to terminate Ms. Herridge and the reasons for such termination, including the decision to seize Ms. Herridge’s confidential materials as a part of this termination” as well as documents and communications regarding any people who had access to Herridge’s confidential materials.
CBS News claims that the reporting of the firing was incorrect. “CBS News strongly denies any items were seized,” said a spokesperson and reiterated they “respected [Herridge’s] request to not go through the files, and out of our concern for confidential sources, the office she occupied has remained secure since her departure.”
“We are prepared to pack up the rest of her files immediately on her behalf — with her representative present as she requested,” the network spokesperson said.
According to a statement from SAG-AFTRA which is the union who represents on-air talent, “This action is deeply concerning to the union because it sets a dangerous precedent for all media professionals and threatens the very foundation of the First Amendment.”
“From a First Amendment standpoint, a media corporation with a commitment to journalism calling a reporter’s research and confidential source reporting ‘proprietary information’ is both shocking and absurd.”