Former Fox News reporter faces $800-a-day contempt charges — and jail

Politico reporter Josh Gerstein says a DC Circuit court has declined to stay a ruling against former Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge, meaning Herridge is now staring down the barrel of an $800-a-day contempt fine and possibly jail.

As president, Politico reports President Donald Trump will “lack the power to directly waive the fine or potential jail time that Herridge faces, but he could order the Justice Department to settle an underlying lawsuit filed by the woman, Yanping Chen.”

Settling the suit would wipe away the fines and any other punishment against Herridge.

“Herridge relied on one or more anonymous sources for several 2017 stories about potential national security risks related to a Virginia school that was founded by Chen and attended by many members of the U.S. military whose tuition was paid by taxpayers,” reported Politico. “Herridge published details about an FBI investigation into Chen, including photos of her in a People’s Liberation Army uniform.”

But Chen argued that leaks about the probe damaged her reputation, and she sued several federal agencies over the disclosures. As part of that lawsuit, she issued a subpoena to Herridge to try to force her to disclose her source, but Herridge refused. Chen sued the FBI, DOJ, Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security in 2018 for monetary damages and an admission of wrongdoing from the government that leaked about her violated the Privacy Act. But after her depositions failed to reveal the leaker, Chen turned her lawyers loose on Fox News and Herridge.

Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper ordered Herridge to pay the $800-a-day fine for her defiance of the subpoena, but he delayed enforcement of the fine to allow Herridge to appeal. Now that she has lost her appeal, Chen’s lawyers could ask the judge for stiffer fines or even to jail Herridge if she refuses to surrender her source.

“Judge Greg Katsas, a Trump appointee, and Judge Harry Edwards, an appointee of President Jimmy Carter, both sounded dubious of Herridge’s legal argument that Cooper should have balanced the public interest in news reporting against Chen’s desire to be compensated for damage to her reputation,” reported Politico last year.

“What is this balancing test? … What does that mean?” Edwards asked in arguments, while Joe Biden appointee Judge Michelle Childs was even less supportive in her comments about who exactly qualifies as a journalist — complete with journalistic protections.

“We’re now in this social media age where people hide behind Twitter, people hide behind other social media outlets. Who are you really protecting?” Childs asked.

Herridge was an investigative TV reporter, Politico reports she left Fox News for CBS in 2019, before being laid off by CBS in 2024. She now publishes her work on Substack.

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