(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) CBS News has handed over documents that belonged to former senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge, just days after the House Judiciary Committee launched a scathing investigation into the company’s seizure of these documents.
According to the New York Post, among the documents retained by CBS News was Herridge’s laptop computer, which may have contained confidential materials from a First Amendment lawsuit currently pending against the journalist.
“Catherine Herridge’s union representative picked up her materials this morning,” a spokesperson for CBS News told the Post on Monday.
SAG-AFTRA, the union representing CBS News workers, confirmed in a press statement that the documents were indeed returned to their rightful owner. “We welcome CBS News’ reversal which came after SAG-AFTRA’s intervention and widespread media coverage that underscored shared concerns about press freedom and the First Amendment,” the union said.
“The resolution of this matter sends a strong message of protection for basic First Amendment principles,” they continued. “We further hope the public focus now turns to SAG-AFTRA’s continued efforts to support a Press Shield law that provides additional federal protections for journalists and their confidential sources.”
Herridge is currently involved in a lawsuit against the FBI filed by Chinese American scientist Yanping Chen. Chen became the subject of a Fox News report (where Herridge previously worked).
Citing internal FBI sources, Herridge reported that Chen had been under investigation for several years over alleged lies on immigration forms. Chen was never charged with any wrongdoing and is now suing the federal government. Herridge, however, is refusing to disclose the identities of her sources.
CBS released these documents three days after the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee issued a letter to CBS News President Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews, demanding the return of the files, including documents of Herridge’s investigative work into the Biden family.
“The unprecedented actions of CBS News threaten to chill good journalism and ultimately weaken our nation’s commitment to a free press,” House Republicans wrote in the letter.
Herridge is a renowned journalist who worked as a chief intelligence correspondent for Fox News since 1996. In 2019, she departed Fox News and joined CBS News—only to be fired in February 2024. Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS News, axed approximately 800 jobs as part of budget cuts.
Herridge has become a beacon of journalistic integrity, bringing damning information about the Biden family and congressional investigations to CBS News—an outlet not associated with conservative leanings.
