Report: Noreen O'Donnell MIA During CBS Capitol Special

The anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot is sparking fresh conspiracy theories — about Norah O’Donnell’s anchor spot at “CBS Evening News,” reports The NY Post.

Last week, the third-place network flew “CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil into Washington from New York to anchor a 9 a.m. special report on last January’s upheaval at the Capitol.

That set tongues wagging inside CBS, where some staffers said it looked like a possible tryout for O’Donnell’s job as CBS News co-president Neeraj Khemlani searches for ways to cut costs at the network.

Tony Dokoupil

\As reported by The NY Post, the 47-year-old O’Donnell, who is rumored to pull a salary in the ballpark of $8 million, has lately faced speculation that her plum job may be in jeopardy as she renegotiates her contract to anchor the third-place news broadcast.

One insider told The Post that Khemlani has spoken about the coveted anchor chair to 40-year-old Dokoupil, who earns around $2 million for co-hosting “CBS Mornings” alongside Gayle King and Nate Burleson — and told him that he first needs to become “more seasoned.”

A rep for CBS News declined to comment on the chatter but pointed to O’Donnell’s ratings, which have improved although they still lag second-place NBC’s “Nightly News with Lester Holt” and first-place ABC “World News Tonight with David Muir.”

“‘Evening News’ is experiencing the tightest demo gap with NBC in 27 years,” the rep said.

But one CBS insider noted that the network can pay Dokoupil much less to be in third place. The person added that Dokoupil’s presence in DC seemed odd when O’Donnell, the network’s managing editor, is already there.