Tucker Carlson | Catherine was fired shortly after investigating Hunter Biden’s laptop

Catherine Herridge Joins Tucker Carlson — Discusses on CBS Termination and Seizure of Reporting Records. Why did CBS News fire Catherine Herridge and seize her reporting records? And how the Press Act can save the country.

During the interview with Tucker Carlson, Herridge discussed her firing and the records that were seized by her previous employer.

Tucker Carlson: I know this has been written about, but I just want to get a record on video of what exactly happened. So how did this unfold? What kind of warning did you have, and what happened?

Catherine Herridge: Well, I testified to Congress about this as well. I was laid off on a Zoom call. I was told my job was terminated. And when I asked for an explanation, I was told they were making cuts. I was locked out of my email and locked out of the office.

A couple of days later, a courier came to the house with just a few boxes of clothing, some books, and a few awards. I asked, “Where are all my investigative files, research, and reporting notes?” The courier said, “You’re just going to have to talk to human resources about that.” I got the union, SAG-AFTRA, involved. I’m not going into all the details, but there was a vigorous back and forth about returning the records.

Tucker Carlson: What were the records like? Interview notes?

Catherine Herridge: There were interview notes, research, reporter notes, and contact information. When I had left other major organizations, ABC and Fox, it was completely different. There was an understanding that you would go through your materials, take with you what was essentially your reporting materials, and leave what belonged to the company. I knew from people at CBS that what was happening to me was not standard.

One person, in particular, said that when their office was cleaned out, everything came back to them, even dirty coffee cups and post-it notes. I think if the union hadn’t gotten involved and there hadn’t been a public outcry, I would never have seen those records again.

The union really stood up for journalism. I testified that when the network of Walter Cronkite seizes your reporting information, including confidential source information, it’s an attack on investigative journalism. I heard from contacts I’ve worked with over the years, who helped me expose government wrongdoing and corruption, that they were very concerned they would be identified.

Herridge’s firing came shortly after she had covered politically sensitive topics, including an investigation into Hunter Biden’s laptop contents.

Carlson asked Herridge about the speculation that her dismissal was not just about internal restructuring but possibly a response to external pressures or corporate interests aiming to suppress contentious news stories before the upcoming election.

Tucker Carlson: So, I mean, again, I doubt you will agree with this. I don’t know what you really think, but from my perspective, it’s super obvious. They’re taking you out before the election because you’re reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop. And that’s my take on it.

I was shocked that they fired you. Then when I reflected for a moment, I was not shocked at all. They took out the Drudge Report before the 2020 election. Whatever. Lots of people who were in the way have been taken out before elections. Do you think they went through your notes during the time they had them?

Catherine Herridge: I really can’t answer that.

Tucker Carlson: Because you don’t know or…

Catherine Herridge: I don’t really want to answer that question.

Tucker Carlson: No, of course. I think people can draw their own conclusions. Tell us about the reporting you did publicly.

Catherine Herridge: They said they haven’t, but anyway, I’ll leave it at that.

Tucker Carlson: It would be kind of tempting to go through your interview notes. I’d like to. I mean, why would they seize your personal reporting product?

Catherine Herridge: It was a very sad episode for me, both professionally and personally, because I thought that we had done some really tremendous work on not only the laptop but also the IRS whistleblowers. I mean, this was a major story for CBS News. I did an interview along with one of my colleagues, and I think that really changed the public discussion of the Hunter Biden investigation and this question of whether there was a double standard applied in that case.

Tucker Carlson: For those of us who missed the CBS report, tell us about the tax investigation into Hunter Biden. So Hunter Biden in the end got convicted of a completely ridiculous gun charge—this is my personal editorializing—but ridiculous gun charge. Like, who cares actually? But there are other potential crimes. Tell us about the tax.

Catherine Herridge: Well, you have to think about the Hunter Biden case as having two buckets. The first was the gun charges, and then the second is this tax case. I’ve always felt the tax case is a much more serious case and has the greatest legal jeopardy for himself and members of his family. I’d encourage people just to look at the indictment, which is in California.

And my memory is that it’s on the first or second page where they refer to him as a lobbyist. That, to me, is an indicator that the special counsel is exploring whether there were violations of FARA, which is the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

In simple terms, that means if you’re working on behalf of the interests of a foreign government, you need to be clear with the U.S. government and register. And seeded throughout that document is information about his businesses with Ukraine, China, and others. So to me, it leaves the door open to a superseding indictment. I’m not saying that’s going to happen, but it certainly to me was an indicator or a flag that it was possible.