LESTER HOLT (HOST): Tonight 21st Century Fox is denying reports swirling that the legendary head of Fox News, Roger Ailes has been ousted. The company says an internal review is ongoing after a former anchor's stunning sexual harassment allegations against Ailes, who has been a towering force in media and Republican politics for decades, even before the existence of Fox News. NBC's Cynthia McFadden has late details.
CYNTHIA MCFADDEN: Reports circulating tonight that Fox News CEO and Chairman Roger Ailes is on his way out. This in the wake of a highly publicized claim of sexual harassment by former Fox Anchor Gretchen Carlson, who says that Ailes fired her in June after she rebuffed his advances, a claim that Ailes denies. Ailes is widely credited with turning the cable giant into the financial and political power house it is today with revenues last year of more than a billion dollars.
MICHAEL WOLFF: Ailes is Fox News, there's not a detail of Fox News that Ailes does not have his fingers on. He is the person who is most central to his organization and the product it produces.
MCFADDEN: Ailes' rise included working as a media consultant with a Mt. Rushmore of Republican presidents, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. But in becoming the founding CEO of Fox News, he solidified his reputation as a king maker, working closely with Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of 21st Century Fox.
WOLFF: It has always been a good working relationship. Roger Ailes provides the one thing that Rupert Murdoch likes most and really can't do without, which is money, an enormous amount of money.
MCFADDEN: A year ago, Murdoch put his sons Lachlan and James in charge of Fox News. A source with direct knowledge of the situation told NBC News the brothers wanted Ailes out, even back then.
Today, the Drudge Report posted a document that purported to be the $40 million separation agreement between Ailes and 21st Century Fox. The document was almost immediately taken down. The company followed with a statement tweeted out soon thereafter.
