JAKE TAPPER (HOST): Big lawsuit. Big payout. Fox News set to pay a whopping $20 million to settle a lawsuit with former anchor Gretchen Carlson who accused her old boss and former Fox News CEO and current Donald Trump advisor, Roger Ailes. But even more shocking than the sexual harassment, she also received a public apology from the news network. Let's bring in CNN senior media correspondent and the host of Reliable Sources on Sunday, Brian Stelter. Brian, $20 million and an apology? That seems an awful lot like an admission of guilt.
BRIAN STELTER: Yes, it does. The Murdochs who own Fox News have not publicly acknowledged the story, but privately they concluded that, yes, Ailes was harassing women in his office at Fox News, that there was inappropriate behavior going on for years. And these settlements today are an attempt to move on. Think about this, Carlson lost her job. Then she sued the most powerful man in media. Normally, we know what happens next. It becomes a he said, she said, and the allegations are swept under the carpet. But this time, the story ended differently.
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STELTER: The real story behind Carlson's sexual harassment lawsuit against Roger Ailes will now never see a courtroom. Fox's parent company announcing a bombshell $20 million settlement made by the network on behalf of Ailes. Fox issuing a highly unusual statement saying “we sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect that she and all our colleagues deserve.”
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So the Murdochs are clearly trying to move on while Ailes is still fighting. He resigned under pressure in late July, and now the GOP strategist turned TV boss is giving advice to Donald Trump, though not formally working for the campaign
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One of the networks' best known hosts, Greta Van Susteren exercising the clause in her contract today letting her walk out the door now that Ailes is out. She says on Facebook: “Fox has not felt like home to me more a few years.” Now she is looking for a new broadcasting job, as for Carlson, maybe there is advocacy work in her future.
