Former Fox News anchor settles lawsuit against Roger Ailes for $20 million

Attorney Charles Harder sent a threatening letter on Ailes’ behalf to NY magazine and its national affairs editor Gabriel Sherman, whose reporting about Ailes’ alleged sexual harassment has led the way this summer.

It’s a busy news day for Fox News.

21st Century Fox, however, is acknowledging harm.

Though Carlson contributed to the Fox News machine for years, we should all be grateful for her courage to step forward and bring the darkness of her reality to the light. The NewYork Times also reported Tuesday that Fox is in settlement talks with other women at the network.

Sherman doesn’t name the investigator.

Roger Ailes denied the allegations in Carlson’s suit – blasting them as “false” and “offensive”. Ailes did not pay any of the settlement, said his attorney, Susan Estrich.

Sherman quotes a Fox executive as saying, “This was the culture”. ‘Getting phone records doesn’t make anyone blink’. Some of Murdoch’s British newspapers were engulfed in a far-reaching phone hacking scandal years ago. The former Miss America said Roger Ailes had commented about her tight-fitting clothes and legs constantly and when she filed a complaint, Ailes called her a “man-hater…who needed to get along with the boys”.

He added: ‘Anyone involved in the illegal hacking should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and we are considering all options. “Sherman’s work is and has been carefully reported”. But Ailes views Sherman as an enemy. As it turns out, not even Fox News star Megyn Kelly was spared gross treatment from the pudding-faced grope monster, and it’s entirely possible this could be just the first of many lawsuits.

The additional gig won’t affect Sherman’s current role as national affairs editor for NY magazine, where he will remain, according to Politico.

Libel is far harder to prove, and would require Ailes to go through the “discovery” process of the trial, in which lawyers exchange information and can probe deep into the lives of those involved. Ailes resigned under pressure on July 21.

According to Vanity Fair, three unnamed people familiar with the settlement confirmed the financial terms. Other funds were spent on Ailes loyalists who “consulted” for the channel. But Donald Trump and Roger Ailes are longtime friends.

This threat of a lawsuit follows the publication of a series of stories authored by Gabriel Sherman, including a cover story in the most current issue. While Ailes has long enjoyed the loyalty of Rupert Murdoch, the younger Murdochs – who are chairman and chief executive, respectively, of 21st Century Fox – have long clashed with the Fox News founder. “What is more likely is that their very jobs included enabling, abetting, protecting, and covering up for their boss”.

Ailes is supposedly responsible for some of the $20 million.

Under Ailes, Fox became home to key conservative political commentators, drawing an audience distinct from rivals CNN and MSNBC. A few women told their stories publicly.

NY reported that Trump advised Ailes shortly after Carlson filed the lawsuit. It is unknown if Ailes followed the advice.