Former CBS reporter says executives shot down Hunter Biden laptop stories

WASHINGTON (TNND) — Former CBS News investigative reporter Catherine Herridge released a video Tuesday, claiming her former employer appeared to avoid certain stories about the infamous Hunter Biden laptop.

Despite initial reporting from New York Postthe laptop was initially mistakenly dismissed as Russian disinformation aimed at influencing the results of the 2020 election. The communications on the laptop were later found to be authentic, according to Washington Post and other businesses.

Herridge interjected the video she made “a lot of effort” to get a copy of portable files to avoid any journalistic risk related to the story. Nevertheless, she said CBS News executives repeatedly blocked her from covering the laptop story until after the 2022 midterm elections.

“I argued against it because it was ready before the midterms,” she said. “In my training, you should always make the story when it’s ready to go. You shouldn’t be dictated by the political cycle.”

Herridge said she felt there were opportunities for follow-up reports on recovered text messages, which allegedly included “the liberal use of the N-word.” However, CBS News reportedly told Herridge that the network was not interested in the story.

Herridge also claimed she tried to cover up evidence from the laptop showing Joe Biden may have communicated using personal email addresses. That storyline was also shot down, Herridge said.

“The response that came back was ‘well, we need to know what the content of the emails are,'” Herridge said. “But it would be a year-long process, so there was no way.”

“There were many reasons why I was told not to do it, not to pursue it,” Herridge added.

Multiple CBS News representatives did not respond to a request for comment from The National News Desk emailed Tuesday.

The White House appeared to dodge a question about whether President Biden will pardon his son before he leaves office. Biden was convicted of federal gun charges in June and pleaded guilty in September to tax-related charges.

“I have nothing else to share about it,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “I’m not going to go down a rabbit hole on this. I’ve been very clear, the president has been very clear, when we’ve been asked this question.”

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