Sunday, February 27, 2011

Will Roger Ailes be indicted this week? Doubt it.


Fox News President Roger Ailes may be indicted as soon as Monday for allegedly telling employees to lie to federal investigators, according to a financial commentator who claims to have inside knowledge of the situation.

On Thursday, the New York Times reported that Ailes in 2006 told publisher Judith Regan, who then worked for Fox's parent company, News Corporation, to lie to investigators about a public official with whom she had had an affair.
Ms. Regan had once been involved in an affair with [Bernard] Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner whose mentor and supporter, former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, was in the nascent stages of a presidential campaign. The News Corporation executive, whom she did not name, wanted to protect Mr. Giuliani and conceal the affair, she said.

Now, court documents filed in a lawsuit make clear whom Ms. Regan was accusing of urging her to lie: Roger E. Ailes, the powerful chairman of Fox News and a longtime friend of Mr. Giuliani. What is more, the documents say that Ms. Regan taped the telephone call from Mr. Ailes in which Mr. Ailes ... "discussed with Regan her responses to questions regarding her personal relationship with Kerik."