Longtime Fox News correspondent Catherine Herridge heads to CBS

Catherine Herridge, a high-profile Washington-based correspondent for Fox News since its launch in 1996, is heading to CBS.

CBS News announced Thursday that Herridge will join the network as a senior investigative correspondent based in Washington, D.C. She will continue to cover national security and intelligence issues as she did at Fox News.

She is the second longtime journalist to exit Fox News this month. On Oct. 11, veteran anchor Shepard Smith announced his surprise departure in the middle of his $15-million-a-year contract after growing tension with the conservative network’s commentators who counter much of the straight news coverage on the network.

Herridge’s exit is said to have been in the works for a while as her last deal with the cable channel was up over the summer. Fox executives view her move as an opportunity to get wider exposure on a broadcast network that serves as the home of television’s most watched news program, “60 Minutes.”

Herridge is leaving Fox News on good terms, but in her statement thanking its founder Rupert Murdoch, she made a point of citing her coverage of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the current move to impeach President Trump. Both stories have been dismissed as witch hunts by the Fox News commentators who stridently defend Trump nightly.

“I am grateful to Mr. Murdoch for the opportunity to cover the most impactful stories of the last 23 years, most recently the special counsel report and impeachment inquiry,” Herridge said. “I have received great personal satisfaction from mentoring the next generation of reporters and producers and sharing my journalistic values — that facts matter and enterprise reporting will always win the day.”

Jay Wallace, president of Fox News Media, praised Herridge for her tenure at the network. “From her breaking news headlines at the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to her reporting after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the investigation into Princess Diana’s death, she has always been at the forefront of every beat she has covered,” Wallace said in a statement. “We are grateful for Catherine’s many contributions to the network.”