Ailes' Scandal At Fox Keeps Getting Worse

I’ve already noted that the Roger Ailes’ scandal at Fox News is growing beyond just his disgusting inappropriate sexual behavior and harassment. It is becoming more and more apparent that other Fox News executives were well aware of Ailes’ behavior and did nothing to stop it. In fact, they were complicit in helping Ailes cover up his behavior, either through intimidation or essentially paying hush money. One of those payments, an over $3 million payment to Laurie Luhn, was paid with Fox News funds, apparently without the knowledge of Rupert Murdoch’s parent company, now 21st Century Fox. As a source to this Politico story points out, that may amount to a willful manipulation of financial documents which is a clear violation of securities law. The story also goes on to report that Ailes threatened to “send people to beat the shit” out of Gabriel Sherman who was writing an unauthorized and unflattering book on Ailes and Fox News. The Politico source also goes on to suggest that, as part of a multi-pronged campaign to discredit the author, Ailes may have illegally obtained Sherman’s phone records, reminiscent of Murdoch’s phone hacking scandal in England. This would also expose Ailes and Fox News to potential criminal charges if it turns out to be true. It is important to note that the source in the Politico story remains anonymous and none of the charges have been corroborated. But those charges seem well within the range of “normal” behavior for Ailes and the way he ran Fox News.