{"id":2669747,"date":"2026-09-25T07:53:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T11:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaigneverything-about-the-catherine-herridge-contempt-case-stinks\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T07:58:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T11:58:22","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaigneverything-about-the-catherine-herridge-contempt-case-stinks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaigneverything-about-the-catherine-herridge-contempt-case-stinks\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything About The Catherine Herridge Contempt Case Stinks"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Futm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaigneverything-about-the-catherine-herridge-contempt-case-stinks%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2669747&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Catherine herridge, an independant investigative journalist, is embroiled in a legal battle over her sources linked to a case initiated by yanping Chen against various federal agencies, including the FBI, DOJ, DoD, and DHS. The case involves Chen\u2019s allegations of illegal leaks of her private information to Fox News, which herridge reported on extensively. Herridge faces a contempt order from a federal judge demanding she reveal her sources or pay substantial fines,with the judge\u2019s wife representing clients related to cases Herridge has exposed. This potential conflict of interest, combined with opaque court records sealed under national security grounds, raises concerns about bias and suppression of free speech.The case has reached the Supreme Court, but the specifics of the arguments are also under seal. the proceedings highlight significant issues regarding judicial impartiality, government clarity, and the protection of journalists\u2019 sources.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>For more than four years, independent investigative journalist Catherine Herridge has been fighting to maintain the confidentiality of her sources in a case Yanping Chen filed against the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Homeland Security. And presiding over the case is a federal judge whose wife represented (or represents) multiple high-profile subjects whose misconduct Herridge exposed in her reporting, such as Lisa Page and Joe Biden. <\/p>\n<p>Making matters worse, in holding Herridge in contempt for refusing to divulge her sources, the lower court has kept key documents under seal, thereby preventing the public from both assessing the propriety of the contempt decision and learning the DoD\u2019s basis for canceling a Memorandum of Understanding it had entered into with the University of Management and Technology (\u201cUMT\u201d) \u2014 a university founded by Yanping Chen.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, the United States Supreme Court will conference on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/search.aspx?filename=\/docket\/docketfiles\/html\/public\/26m17.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Motion<\/a> attorneys for Herridge filed before the high court seeking \u201cleave to file a petition for a writ of certiorari under seal with redacted copies for the public record filed.\u201d What precisely that Motion argues, however, is unknown because it currently remains under seal too. And that is one of the problems with the entire case again Herridge.<\/p>\n<p>That case didn\u2019t begin against Herridge, but against the FBI, DOJ, DoD and DHS, when Chen on December 21, 2018, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/8452745\/chen-v-federal-bureau-of-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">filed<\/a> a Privacy Act claim against those federal defendants. Chen had previously sought sanctions against the government for its alleged violations of the Privacy Act in a case <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/6205376\/united-states-v-2122-21st-road-north-arlington-virginia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">docketed<\/a> <em>United States v. 2122 21st Road North Arlington, VA<\/em>, in a federal court in Virginia following the FBI\u2019s submission of a search warrant <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.vaed.363751\/gov.uscourts.vaed.363751.1.0.pdf\">application and affidavit<\/a> for Chen\u2019s business and residence. The <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.vaed.363751\/gov.uscourts.vaed.363751.26.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">judge<\/a> in that case, however, rejected Chen\u2019s request for sanctions, concluding \u201ca proceeding for the issuance of a search warrant cannot provide the relief sought by the movant under the Privacy Act.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thereafter, Chen filed her Privacy Act Claim against the FBI, DOJ, DoD, and DHS, alleging \u201cone or more agents of the Defendants, who possessed or had access to confidential FBI records pertaining to the investigation, caused the Leaked Records to be disclosed to one or more employees or agents of Fox News.\u201d Chen alleged that as a result of the allegedly \u201cillegal leak or leaks of Dr. Chen\u2019s private information to Fox News, three Fox News reports were published and broadcast, leading to the destruction of Dr. Chen\u2019s livelihood and the termination of the University of Management and Technology\u2019s participation in DOD\u2019s Tuition Assistance program.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the time, Herridge served as Fox News\u2019 Chief Intelligence Correspondent, and she was the lead reporter on the series covering Chen and UMT. Among other things, a February 24, 2017, Fox News segment reported \u201cChen had lied on her immigration forms about whether she had previously worked for the Chinese military.\u201d Chen\u2019s Privacy Act claim alleged that \u201cFox News report revealed information derived from, and images of, an FBI FD-302 Form, bearing file number \u2018200D-WF240088,\u2019 that purported to memorialize an FBI interview of Dr. Chen\u2019s daughter.\u201d Chen further alleged the \u201cFox News Report also displayed images of personal photographs seized from Dr. Chen\u2019s home during the FBI search\u201d and \u201cdata taken from, and images of, Dr. Chen\u2019s immigration and naturalization forms; . . .\u201d Additionally, Chen\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >complaint cited additional \u201cexclusive\u201d reports<\/a> from Fox News dated April 28, 2017 and June 28, 2017 that again, according to Chen, included material in leaked government records.<\/p>\n<p>Among other things, to prove her Privacy Act claim, Chen needs to prove one (or more) of the Defendants willfully or intentionally disclosed a record protected by the Privacy Act. Chen, however, failed to learn from discovery how Fox News and its reporters obtained some of the information included in the coverage. On June 2022, Chen served Herridge with a subpoena for documents and a deposition to seek the identity of any source of the materials underlying her Privacy Act claim.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, Herridge has been fighting the subpoena \u2014 before a federal judge whose wife represents (or represented) clients whose misconduct the top investigative journalist\u2019s reporting exposed.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Christopher Cooper, the presiding judge in Chen\u2019s case, is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/07\/23\/amy-jeffress-joe-biden-lawyer-00470811\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">married<\/a> to attorney Amy Jeffress \u2014 \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.heckerfink.com\/newsroom\/leading-national-security-attorney-amy-jeffress-joins-hecker-fink-lead-dc-office\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">one of the country\u2019s most prominent national security<\/a>\u201d lawyers \u2014 and he has ordered Herridge, one of the country\u2019s most prominent national security journalists, to divulge her sources or pay a fine of $800 per day for every day she refuses. (The fine has been stayed pending decision by the Supreme Court.) <\/p>\n<p>In short, Judge Cooper\u2019s wife represents precisely the types of clients on whom Herridge reports.<\/p>\n<p>But in this case, the potential conflicting interests between Jeffress and Herridge goes beyond the theoretical: Jeffress represented Lisa Page, whose misconduct related to the Russia collusion hoax Herridge reported in detail. In fact, in one Fox News segment, Herridge <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=q6m2lIOmHUI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">quoted<\/a> Jeffress\u2019 explanation for why Page failed to appear for questioning before the House.<\/p>\n<p>Further, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2025\/07\/23\/amy-jeffress-joe-biden-lawyer-00470811\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according<\/a> to Politico, in July of 2025, former President Joe Biden hired Jeffress as his personal attorney, \u201creplacing longtime Obama-Biden ally Bob Bauer.\u201d And just this summer, Jeffress <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/68316879\/parties\/heritage-foundation-v-us-department-of-justice\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">appeared<\/a> on behalf of Biden in an attempt to block the FOIA release of Special Counsel Robert Hur\u2019s recording of his interview with the former president \u2014 an interview that <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/US\/live-updates\/robert-hur-biden-docs-hearing\/?id=108028781\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">prompted<\/a> Hur to opt against charging \u201cthe sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not only does Herridge report extensively on issues related to the former president, but she was also the <em>only <\/em>legacy media journalist to seriously and substantively report on the IRS whistleblower allegations against Hunter Biden. At the time, and until 2024, Herridge served as a senior investigative correspondent for CBS News in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p>Herridge\u2019s extensive reporting on Joe Biden and the Biden family and Judge Cooper\u2019s wife\u2019s legal representation of the former president creates a significant appearance of bias because denial of Herridge\u2019s Motion to Quash the subpoena \u2014 so far upheld by the D.C. Circuit Court \u2014 chills every D.C. reporter\u2019s Free Speech rights, as well as whistleblowers who would seek out Herridge or other reporters to disclose wrongdoing by Biden.<\/p>\n<p>It isn\u2019t merely the contempt order, however, that threatens free speech rights. Throughout the proceedings, Judge Cooper has kept under seal records related to Chen and the DoD\u2019s decision to end tuition reimbursement for the university on national security grounds. Not even two weeks ago, Judge Cooper <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.202751\/gov.uscourts.dcd.202751.216.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">denied<\/a> Herridge\u2019s request to unseal DoD records, meaning the public is left with a briefing that looks like this:<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>In a letter to the Deputy Secretary of Defense, Chen, through her attorney, had previously <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.202751\/gov.uscourts.dcd.202751.123.35.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">argued<\/a> the DoD\u2019s decision to terminate the university\u2019s participation in the tuition assistance program on national security grounds was based on \u201ca near-verbatim recital of inaccurate and outdated claims provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.\u201d The public has a right to know if those claims were in fact, \u201cinaccurate,\u201d because the <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.vaed.363751\/gov.uscourts.vaed.363751.1.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">affidavit<\/a> filed by the FBI in support of its search warrant is extremely concerning. Yet Chen was never charged with a crime. <\/p>\n<p>If Chen was wrongly accused, the public should know that, but if not, and if instead, after six years of investigation, the Biden administration decided not to bring charges against Chen, that would also be a matter of public interest \u2014 and another reason why the representation of Joe Biden by Judge Cooper\u2019s wife matters.<\/p>\n<p>There has been little reporting on Herridge\u2019s fight to protect her sources, and that too shows the chilling effect of Judge Cooper\u2019s denial of her Motion to Quash the subpoena. The ball is now in the Supreme Court, but again, with the public having, as of now, no visibility on what the petition for certiorari argues \u2014 because it too is being held under seal.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Margot Cleveland is an investigative journalist and legal analyst and serves as The Federalist\u2019s senior legal correspondent. Margot\u2019s work has been published at The Wall Street Journal, The American Spectator, the New Criterion, National Review Online, Townhall.com, the Daily Signal, USA Today, and the Detroit Free Press.     She is also a regular guest on nationally syndicated radio programs and on Fox News, Fox Business, and Newsmax. Cleveland is a lawyer and a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, where she earned the Hoynes Prize\u2014the law school\u2019s highest honor. She later served for nearly 25 years as a permanent law clerk for a federal appellate judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.      Cleveland is a former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/5-media-lies-about-the-latest-special-counsel-revelations\/\" title=\"5 Media Lies About The Latest Special Counsel Revelations\">full-time university faculty member<\/a> and now teaches as an adjunct from time to time. Cleveland is also of counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance.       Cleveland is on Twitter at @ProfMJCleveland where you can read more about her greatest accomplishments\u2014her dear husband and dear son. The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Herridge fights to keep sources secret in FBI case<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":499,"featured_media":2669748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-243.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[86222,83692,36546],"class_list":["post-2669747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-catherine-herridge-2","tag-contempt-case","tag-media-controversy"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-243.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2669747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2669747"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2669747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2669751,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2669747\/revisions\/2669751"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2669748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2669747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2669747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2669747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}