UPDATE: Roger Ailes has until August 1st to resign or he will be fired for cause.
Megyn Kelly told Fox’s lawyers that Ailes sexually harassed her.
Right after Gretchen Carlson sued Roger Ailes for sexual harassment, Rupert Murdoch hired the law firm of Paul, Weiss. The investigation is being run out of their offices over fears that the Fox offices are bugged. According to The New Yorker, after receiving the initial report from the lawfirm, Murdoch and his two sons have decided Ailes must go. They are believed to be asking for his retirement and if he refuses, they will fire him. Not only is Ailes being investigated for sexual harassment but he is also being looked at over whether he has pressured Fox employees to stand up for him.
The biggest question appears to be when to give him the heave ho. Initially it was believed to be this week by Rupert and his son Lachlan would prefer to wait until the Republican National Convention before cutting him loose. The New Yorker reports that after Carlson filed her lawsuit, several other women have stepped forward and spoke to the firm about their experiences with Ailes. Evidently, evidence is piling up and Murdoch wants to put the entire mess behind him.
Carlson’s suit claimed that Roger Ailes had tried to proposition her several times and then fired her when she refused. After that, several women stepped forward including two who were underage at the time he harassed them and a married woman who considered his proposition but then turned him down.
21st Century Fox did not respond for comment. Ailes’s spokesperson, Irena Briganti, also did not respond.
Meanwhile, one Fox host told me that Ailes loyalists are reporting back on the investigation to his attorney, and Fox contributor, Susan Estrich. “They’re scared to death,” one Fox anchor told me. “The mood is bleak.”