(Ken Silva, Headline USA) House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote a letter to CBS President Ingrid Ciprián-Matthews on Friday, seeking information as to why the news outlet seized the confidential files of Catherine Herridge when they fired her on Feb. 13.
“Upon terminating Ms. Herridge, CBS News, ‘in an ‘unprecedented move,’ allegedly seized Ms. Herridge’s ‘personal files [that] most likely contain confidential material from [Ms.] Herridge’s stints at both Fox and CBS,’” Jordan said in his letter, quoting news reports about the firing.
“The unprecedented actions of CBS News threaten to chill good journalism and ultimately weaken our nation’s commitment to a free press,” he said.
According to the New York Post, CBS News returned documents to Herridge just days after the Judiciary Committee launched its investigation.
Nevertheless, Jordan still seeks a briefing from CBS on its decision to fire Herridge. He also seeks all documents and communications relating to anyone at CBS who had access to Herridge’s records.
Jordan noted that Herridge was one of the few reporters working on stories such as the Biden family corruption—suggesting that the termination and confiscation of her records was retaliation for that work.
Jordan also noted that Herridge is currently facing contempt-of-court charges for refusing to divulge the identity of a source who fed her information on Chinese national Yanping Chen, a Defense Department contractor who has ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
Herridge reported in 2017 that Chen and UMT had been under an FBI counterintelligence investigation for their alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The investigation ran from 2010 to 2016, when the Justice Department informed Chen it wouldn’t be filing any charges against her.
As Headline USA reported last week, the timing of Herridge’s firing and her court battle raises the question: Was CBS’s seizure of Herridge’s files related to the hunt for the source that leaked her FBI records?
It’s certainly plausible, as CBS has been infiltrated by the FBI. And Herridge’s source was likely from within the FBI, as her reporting was underpinned by information that the bureau generated during its investigation into Chen.
Meanwhile, the judge in Chen’s lawsuit has yet to give a final decision on contempt charges against Herridge.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
