Fired CBS correspondent Catherine Herridge to break silence at Capitol Hill hearing

Catherine Herridge, the ex-CBS News correspondent who saw her files seized by the network after her controversial firing in February, is set to break her silence before the House Judiciary Committee, The Post has learned.

The acclaimed investigative journalist, known for her reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, will testify next week before the powerful panel on the still-murky circumstances surrounding her exit from CBS News, according to a source close to the situation.

The potentially explosive hearing — titled “Fighting for a Free Press: Protecting Journalists and their Sources” — will take place at 9:30 a.m. April 11, the source said.

In addition to Herridge, SAG-AFTRA chief news and broadcast officer Mary Cavallaro will speak about the union’s negotiations with CBS to return Herridge’s confidential materials after she was let go, according to the source.

The House Judiciary Committee also will hear testimony from former CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson, who quit the network in 2014 over claims that CBS killed stories that put then-President Barack Obama in a bad light, according to the source.

CBS News did not comment on whether the Tiffany Network will be sending a representative to the hearing.

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) demanded CBS turn over information surrounding the circumstances of the file seizure by March 1.

While some sources have called the seizure “unprecedented” at CBS, the network insisted in a written response to the committee that the episode was not unusual.

While SAG-AFTRA was key in negotiating the safe return of the files, questions linger as to why CBS News held them.

At the time, CBS said no one had rifled through the files and that they were eventually locked inside Herridge’s former office.

Herridge — who is in the middle of a First Amendment case being closely watched by journalists nationwide — was among 20 CBS News staffers let go as part of a larger purge of 800 employees by Paramount.

During her time at CBS, Herridge had encountered roadblocks from higher-ups over her Hunter Biden coverage, sources said.

She also clashed with CBS News president Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews, who was investigated and cleared in 2021 over accusations of favoritism and discriminatory hiring and management practices, as The Post previously reported.

At next week’s hearing, both Herridge and Attkisson are expected to discuss the importance of the press shield law, which protects journalists and their sources from government overreach and censorship.

At the time of her exit, Attkisson claimed she was spied on by a “government-related entity” that planted classified documents on her computer.

In Herridge’s closely watched First Amendment case, the journalist has appealed US District Judge Christopher Cooper’s decision to hold her in contempt for withholding the name of her source for an investigative piece she penned when she was working for Fox News seven years ago.

The House in January passed the Press Act, which protects journalists from being forced to disclose sources to government agencies.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told The Post last month that the upper chamber could soon send the law to President Biden’s desk.