Judith Regan’s four-year-old wrongful termination lawsuit against News Corp. is back in the news today.
The New York Times uncovered documents from the suit which show Fox News co-founder and Chairman Roger Ailes is the senior News Corp. executive who, Regan claims, asked her lie to federal investigators about her affair with NYPD chief Bernard Kerik, who at the time of the alleged request was being vetted as DHS secretary. (He didn’t get the job and is currently in prison).
The Times‘ Russ Beutner also writes about an alleged taped phone conversation between Ailes and Regan:
Of course, if it were to become public, the tape could be highly embarrassing to Mr. Ailes, a onetime adviser to Richard Nixon whom critics deride as a partisan who engineers Fox News coverage to advance Republicans and damage Democrats, something Fox has long denied.
In 2008, Regan settled her $100 million lawsuit against News Corp. for a $10.75 million, an amount which was only revealed when Regan’s lawyers sued her for firing them. It is from documents in that suit, which revealed today’s news.
News Corp. spokeswoman Teri Everett tells The Times News Corp. has a letter from Regan “stating that Mr. Ailes did not intend to influence her with respect to a government investigation.”
“The matter is closed,” she added.
Somewhere, Keith Olbermann is wishing he had a show tonight.