CBS News went to great lengths to suppress correspondent Catherine Herridge’s reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop just weeks before the 2020 election, the award-winning investigative journalist alleged.

In her bombshell accusation, Herridge revealed that in early October 2020, she presented evidence to CBS News executive Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews and “CBS Evening News” host Norah O’Donnell that the laptop contained material about “a million dollar commission from a Chinese energy company, along with business texts and emails from Democratic challenger Joe Biden’s son.

But later that month, Herridge wrote that she was shocked when “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl said the laptop “could not be verified” during a tense interview with then-President Donald Trump.

“As I watched the broadcast, I felt sick,” Herridge, who was controversially fired from the Tiffany Network in February, wrote in her newly launched newsletter on Sunday evening.

“I knew the laptop data could be vetted and confirmed.”

She added that she was surprised that “60 Minutes” — which came under fire last month for allegedly editing comments from Vice President Kamala Harris to provide a “word salad” answer about the conflict in the Middle East East – had not cooperated with the news department. to confirm her reporting.

There was such a “disconnect” between the two entities, she said.

Before Stahl’s segment aired, she was contacted by Ciprian-Matthews and asked if she had “confirmed” reporting on the Hunter Biden story for O’Donnell’s broadcast.

Herridge assured the director that her extensive reporting included “working the phones, reaching people in Hunter Biden’s emails for confirmation and cross-referencing legal cases.”

“I told Ciprian-Matthews that the materials vetted included a $1 million provision from a Chinese energy company, emails with Hunter Biden’s former business partner Tony Bobulinski, and text messages from Hunter Biden,” she said.

“When Ciprian-Matthews asked if there was a ‘Hunter connection,’ I replied, ‘Yes, all of them,’” she wrote.

Herridge said she then provided some of the audited data directly to Ciprian-Matthews.

But her reporting was never broadcast.

“I don’t know at this point what happened,” Herridge said.

The journalist noted that based on her experience at the network, she found it strange that CBS News did not direct the investigative unit to develop more coverage on the laptop in October 2020.

“That would have been standard practice,” Herridge wrote.

The Post was the only mainstream publication at the time to report that the laptop belonged to Hunter Biden — leading to a ban on the story by social media giants Facebook and Twitter.

It took another two years for CBS to air a forensic examination of the Hunter Biden laptop data. By then, Ciprian-Matthews had been elevated to the role of CBS News president.

Herridge said she continued to advocate for her report on the laptop, which “determined that both the data belonged to Hunter Biden and had not been tampered with.”

“Our report aired in November 2022, after the midterm elections,” Herridge said.

The Post contacted CBS News for comment.

Herridge was ousted earlier this year due to major budget cuts at the network and parent company Paramount Global. CBS News confiscated Herridge’s reporting materials after her firing.

Sources close to the situation claimed that the decision to keep her files was made by Ciprian-Matthews. The files were returned days later under pressure from the union representing Herridge.

Earlier this year, The Post revealed that Ciprian-Matthews was accused of sidelining white journalists and blocking Herridge’s reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop.

The exec abruptly quit in August, moving into the role of senior advisor for coverage of the earlier 2024 presidential election. She will leave the company after the election.