Award-winning investigative journalist Catherine Herridge has spoken out about her controversial departure from CBS News. In an exclusive interview with Tucker Carlson, Herridge discussed the alleged tensions that emerged when she began investigating President Biden and his son Hunter.
Herridge, renowned for her rigorous reporting and previously accusing CBS of “journalistic rape,” revealed there was significant discomfort at the network when she started focusing on the Biden family. “There was tension over the Biden reporting. Especially when I sort of turned my lens on to President Biden,” she told Carlson, maintaining a respectful tone towards her former employer.
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The veteran journalist emphasized her commitment to impartiality, saying, “I like to think that I call balls and strikes.” She also highlighted that her investigative work wasn’t solely centered on the Bidens, noting her reporting on former President Trump’s alleged discussion of classified Iran documents at Mar-A-Lago.
According to the Daily Caller, Herridge’s termination from CBS was part of a broader layoff involving approximately 800 staffers in February. However, Herridge described her exit as “completely different” from her previous departures from major news organizations like ABC and Fox. She claimed that CBS seized her computers, records, and files, and locked her out of her email upon informing her of her termination.
“I knew from people at CBS that what was happening to me was not standard,” Herridge revealed, contrasting her experience with that of colleagues who retained their personal effects after leaving. “One person in particular said that, when their office was cleaned out, they put in dirty coffee cups and post-it notes. I mean, everything came back to them.”
The repercussions of her sudden termination extended beyond professional concerns. Herridge disclosed the loss of her company health insurance, a significant blow given her son’s “chronic medical condition.” The situation even led to her child asking, “Mom, are you going to go to jail?”
“I wanted to tell him that in this country where we say we value — I get a little choked up when I think about it — but, you know, in this country where we say we value democracy and we value a vigorous press, that it was impossible,” she said. “I couldn’t offer him that assurance.”
While Herridge refrained from speculating on the exact reasons for her dismissal, she acknowledged the network’s right to make employment decisions. However, she firmly stated that the seizure of her records crossed “a terrible red line.”
Carlson mentioned it was “super obvious” that CBS fired Herridge “before the election,” referencing her reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop story. Herridge responded, “I guess what has my attention is that over the last couple of years, there has been such an effort by the White House to distance the president from his son, especially in terms of business affairs. But now they’re really sort of joined, joined at the hip, apparently. I don’t know that independently, but, they’re very — they just, did their relationship really suddenly change in that moment or not? Or maybe it’s always been like that. I don’t know the answer to that.”