The lawyer who filed Gretchen Carlson‘s sexual harassment suit against Fox News chief executive Roger Ailes says she’s prepared for an aggressive response from Ailes and Fox News.
“We are prepared, girding for the bomb that’s going to fall on all of us,” Nancy Erika Smith said in an interview with Politico. “But we’re confident in our evidence, confident in our case and very proud to be standing with Gretchen and all the women who have reached out. It’s been an enormous outpouring of support for Gretchen.”
In another interview Wednesday, with The Hollywood Reporter, Smith said other women have come forward to say they experienced similar harassment at Fox News. None of those women have been named, and Carlson’s suit remains exclusively focused on Ailes. “It’s not clear to us yet that Fox is going to stand with Ailes,” Smith said. “If that happens, we will definitely consider what our options are,” including, she said, adding Fox News to the suit.
In a statement released late Wednesday, Fox News corporate parent 21st Century Fox opened an internal investigation:
The Company has seen the allegations against Mr. Ailes and Mr. Doocy. We take these matters seriously. While we have full confidence in Mr. Ailes and Mr. Doocy, who have served the company brilliantly for over two decades, we have commenced an internal review of the matter.
Ailes, in his own statement, called Carlson’s claims “false” and said the legal action was a response to Ailes’ decision not to renew her contract. “This defamatory lawsuit is not only offensive, it is wholly without merit and will be defended vigorously.”
“[Ailes] smears people who stand up to him. Gretchen Carlson never slept with Roger Ailes you can take that to the bank, that’s why she was fired,” Smith said.