KATE SNOW (HOST): Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson has setled a sexual discrimination lawsuit brought against former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes. A source close to the matter tells CNBC the settlement from 21st Century Fox is around $20 million. 21st Century Fox released a statement that read in part “We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of our colleagues deserve.”
We should note that Ailes has repeatedly denied all allegations of sexual harassment. For more, I want to bring in MSNBC and NBC news contributor Gabe Sherman of New York Magazine. He's the author, of course, of “The Loudest Voice In The Room: How The Brilliant Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News And Divided The Country.”
Gabe, nice to see you. Walk us through this, Gretchen Carlson settles this lawsuit, she filed it about two months ago. How did we get here, how did we get to today?
GABRIEL SHERMAN: It's been a stunning turn of events. This lawsuit was filed on July 6th, and within 15 days, Roger Ailes, the powerful chairman and CEO of Fox News resigned under pressure after a wave of other women had come forward to the outside law firm hired by 21st Century Fox to investigate this matter.
SNOW: And so today they settle, we said about $20 million --
SHERMAN: $20, that's what I'm hearing as well, I can confirm that.
SNOW: Another anchor making news today on a separate note, we learn that Greta Van Susteren leaving the network, leaving Fox. She wrote in a statement on Facebook today, reads in part “Fox has not felt like home to me for a few years, and I took advantage of the clause in my contract which allows me to leave now. The clause had a time limitation, meaning I could not wait.” What can you tell us about that?
SHERMAN: Yeah, so really, I heard from a person close to Greta who said that she was unhappy at Fox, was troubled by the culture, and really as the statement said, exercised a key man clause that allows her to leave Fox News if Roger Ailes is no longer running the network.
And really, what this is a sign of is that this machine that Roger Ailes built, and he held together, really could be coming apart now that he's no longer the head of the network.
