Divide and Conquer (2018) - full transcript

I think there was a real
terror inside of Roger.

This wanting to be liked,
wanting to be somebody.

He said, I'm writing a book
about my life for my son

because when I go, people are
going to say awful things about me

and I want him to know
that that's not all his dad was.

I think Roger thought he could
control the little genie in the bottle

and he couldn't

and here we are.

It's easy to make
somebody into a monster.

It's hard to see that
you're on that path too.

We are about four hours away
from history here in Cleveland.



A man with no previous
political experience,

a real estate mogul, a reality
TV star, a millionaire businessman

is about to take his place at the
top of the GOP presidential ticket.

It was a big moment
of triumph for Fox News.

Joe, what an amazing
moment. This is emotional.

It was unthinkable that Donald Trump
as a candidate would exist without them.

About an hour from now,
mister Trump and his family

will arrive here via his helicopter and they
will quite literally hover over our cameras.

It was like a hall of mirrors. You
couldn't look anywhere and not see Roger.

He had his people everywhere
operating behind the scenes.

People who were extremely loyal
to him and who would defend him

with every little weapon
they had in their arsenal.

He was the king.

A powerful, influential person
who changed the country.



And the Republican Convention should
have been this crowning moment for Roger.

But instead he was
embroiled in chaos.

Actually if you'd stand by David, we're
going to hold you over to the next block

and I'll tell our
viewers at home why.

It's because we have some
breaking news to tell you about here.

This is very big news from the
world of politics, the world of media.

And the is that Roger Ailes has
now resigned as chairman and CEO

of the Fox News Channel
and Fox Business Network.

The man who created conservative
leaning Fox News two decades ago

was forced out over
allegations of sexual harassment.

I'm Gretchen Carlson.

Journalist Gretchen Carlson taking on
Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes.

Ailes called Carlson's allegations offensive and
defamatory and said that they would be vigorously defended.

He's said we are going to blow
these people out of the water.

We are going to destroy them.

And she'll be sorry she
ever started this thing.

Roger is the man who almost single handedly
built Fox News Channel from absolutely nothing

into the most watched
news operation in all of cable.

Revolutionary in American
politics, shaper of American history.

Was in the Nixon White House, worked on
the re-election campaign for Ronald Reagan.

You could really credit Roger Ailes with
helping to create three Republican presidents.

I could not be more proud tonight
to present to you our next president,

Donald J. Trump.

It's ironic that on the eve of Donald
Trump's coronation as the Republican nominee,

the ultimate Republican king maker Roger
Ailes was to have his kingdom taken away.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,
the next president of the United States,

mister Donald J. Trump.

Divide and Conquer:
The Story of Roger Ailes

First, I want to put
a disclaimer here.

Anything I say
tonight is my fault.

I don't speak for Fox News and
I'm not speaking for Rupert Murdoch.

I take full and complete responsibility
because nobody else wants it, frankly.

My personal view is we have a
desperate need to return to the basics.

Common sense things
we all learned as kids.

God, family, country. Pay the
bills, work hard, help your neighbor.

The New York and
Hollywood elites,

they think their job is to drag the rest
of the redneck morons toward the light.

They don't understand the
people that grew up with values.

I first met Roger Ailes
in junior high school.

In civics class,

we would have debates about like the race between Eisenhower
and Stevenson and I was a closet Stevenson person.

But the arguments that Roger would make
in favor of Eisenhower were so persuasive

that I thought, I don't agree
with you but I see your point.

We all wanted to be like Roger.

He was witty and
intelligent, mercilessly funny.

Also, Roger was the handsomest
young man you can imagine.

Warren was a beautiful,
clean, wonderful city.

Everywhere you look, there was something
historic or you know, traditional or patriotic.

And you felt it.

It was part of being
from Warren, Ohio.

Roger's father was
a factory foreman

and he was a very
important figure to him.

He's like one of those prophets
from the Old Testament.

Very stern.

My dad was a tough guy.

He hit us with a belt.

Did your dad hit
you with a belt?

I was terrified
but I love my dad.

His father was a union
man who hated the unions.

Who who was
frightened of the unions.

He said to Roger, mark my words.

Liberals will destroy this town.

Now, it's unfair to
say that they did that,

but in the 70s, that
prophecy came true.

And Roger saw all
the industry move out.

Their livelihood
was gone overnight

and he saw the pride that
people had disappearing too.

Roger lived his
whole life in fear.

A physical real fear
of bleeding to death.

Had hemophilia diagnosed
when he was about four years old.

But he was a survivor

and he operated fearlessly

like a lot of people who
have real fears often do.

I had a condition that was
passed through women.

In other words, the mother
has to give you hemophilia.

I don't know that that had anything to do with it
but I was never particularly physical with my mother.

I think she was scared of it.

She may have had some feeling
about the fact that I got it from her.

Roger's daily life was
a fear of annihilation.

He said, it's like you walk around
all your life with a time bomb in you.

And I think this allowed him to
understand the fears of other people.

You're in danger, I'm in danger.

We're at war and this
is not going to stop.

We gotta understand what's in our country and
take out the people that want to see us die.

You're seeing them come out of
the shadows, come out of the cave.

Picture is really shocking.

Jihad right here
on our own soil.

This is the ultimate
battle of good versus evil.

We need to kill them.
We need to kill them.

If a picture paints
a thousand words,

then why can't I paint you?

I used to be a production
assistant for Mike Douglas.

I ran sandwiches for the
stars and I moved up quickly.

I learned if your audience likes you, they'll
forgive just about everything else you do wrong.

The Mike Douglas Show was the
only daytime talk show at that time.

And we did it five
days a week, live.

I co-created the
Mike Douglas Show

and I booked all the big stars.

Every actor in a movie,

a lot of directors
would come through,

plus there were animal acts,

and obviously there were a lot of
dieting segments and that sort of thing.

- Oh, something's on fire here.
- It'll go out.

It was just fun.

Roger was an associate
producer on the show

and a guy named Larry Rosen, who's
really next in line to be the producer.

He was the first producer hired.

He'd been on the show the longest next to
me and it was obviously going to be Larry.

Roger convinced Mike that he would
be the better producer than Larry.

And Roger became the producer
of the Mike Douglas Show.

And that was a big shock

because you couldn't
see him maneuvering.

The only person that I saw
Roger Ailes ever really hit on

was Richard Nixon.

In 1968 during the
presidential campaign

when he was going to be
running against Bobby Kennedy,

Nixon came to Philadelphia,

because like all politicians, he recognized the impact
that the Mike Douglas show had on millions of people.

You look wonderful.

Your sun tan,
you're rested looking.

Yes.

Have you ever regretted entering
politics at such a an early age?

No.

Politics of course
is a great battle.

- All of life is great battle.
- Yes.

After the show is over, Roger
pulled Nixon into his office

just the two of them and
said you need a media adviser.

What's a media adviser Roger?

And Roger said "I am".

"The title that I
just created, okay."

You need someone that can shape you that can make you
presentable and the most palatable you can possibly be

and get you elected president.

And Nixon believed him.

So Roger very soon after left the show
and went off to produce Richard Nixon.

Let's face it. A lot of
people think Nixon is dull.

They think he's a
bore, pain in the ass.

We have a sound dollar.

They look at him as the kind of
kid who always carry the book bag.

Who was 42 years old
the day he was born.

They figure other kids
got footballs for Christmas.

Nixon got a briefcase
and he loved it.

Nixon needed someone who had knowledge
of and command of the use of television.

And that of course was reinforced
by what had happened in 1960.

That was the
Nixon-Kennedy debate

where Nixon loses to Kennedy
because he sweats on television.

He looked bad.

He had not put on makeup.

And even his own mother was
calling in and asking how her son was.

Was he okay?

And of course Kennedy
went on to become president.

So Roger told Nixon

if you don't take television seriously
this time you're going to lose again.

I'm going to fire this fucking
director right after the show.

I mean, look at the
positioning of these cameras.

I told him 50 times
I want close ups.

Close ups!

I want to see faces. I want to
see pores. That's what people are.

That's what television is.

I don't give a fuck
about the seats.

I gave up 30 seats
to get a tight show.

Roger and I had had many
conversations about the power of the media

and particularly the great Nazi propaganda
film by Leni Riefenstahl, Triumph of the Will.

And I talked to Roger a lot about the specific camera
angles that she used to make Hitler seem heroic.

And about putting it in
the right kind of setting,

which made it so powerful.

And Roger told me really thought about that
when we created for Nixon the man in the arena.

Tonight from Philadelphia, live
and in color, Nixon in Pennsylvania.

Tonight, Richard Nixon in person is going to face a panel
of citizens asking the questions they want answered.

He put him in the arena
surrounded by the audience

and it was an amazing
propaganda piece.

I'd like to stress the point
that this is a live program.

No one has any idea what
questions will be asked.

Mister Nixon cannot
possibly know.

Tonight from Atlanta,
the Nixon answer.

You have to have the big stroke for the federal government
in order to handle a particular problem like that.

Richard Nixon.

We've got the power. We've got
a wonderfully motivated people.

Richard Nixon.

TELEVISION AND POLITICS

Good evening, I'm Mike Wallace.

For better or worse,

television has changed the nature of
the political process in the United States.

This year, another
innovation was tried,

the controlled discussion with the
questioners picked by the candidates producer.

Roger Ailes was that producer

and in the book The
Selling of the President,

he was given a good share of
the credit for the successful format.

In your estimation, is television the single most
important factor in a winning political campaign?

Let me put it this way, I don't believe anyone will ever be elected
to a major public office again, including mayors of big cities

without the skillful
use of television.

And that skillful use,

is that an illumination
of the issues

or an emotional cell
of the man involved.

I think both.

I think both. I don't think you
can isolate one or the other.

I think that there's an emotional reaction to what
you see on the screen regardless of what it is.

When I was first
reporting on Fox News,

everyone knew what
Roger Ailes history was,

that he was an aide to Nixon and
and other Republican presidents

but it was kind of
below the radar.

So, I filed information requests
with the Nixon Archives.

One of the things that I discovered
was this astonishing document

called "A plan to
put the GOP on TV".

Its author is unclear.

However, the copy that I obtained
had Roger Ailes handwriting all over it

and notes that were
directed to H. R. Haldeman,

a top aide in the
Nixon White House.

And the memo said the Liberal Elite has a
choke hold on the national news networks.

But local television stations in Wisconsin
and in Utah have their own news programs

and they are hungry for footage.

So it was a proposal that
the Nixon White House

with taxpayer dollars

fund an operation that would interview
Republican members of Congress in Washington

and fly the footage
to these local stations

so that they can get a
message out to their constituents

without having to rely
on the institutional press.

And Roger Ailes is all
over it saying I can do this.

Now, it never happened,

but the idea, the germ goes straight
into what Fox News is all about.

How do we get a message to the people without
having to go through a critical press?

I think that Roger
was a kind of genius

in the sense that he created
something that didn't exist before

and I think that there is a
"Citizen Kane" quality to his life.

And I remember
he told me this story

that when he was a boy he and his brother
had bunk beds and Roger was on the top bunk

and his dad walked in and
opened up his arms and said

jump, Roger, jump and Roger
jumped and his father stepped away

and Roger fell on the ground.

And his father looked
down on him and he said,

don't trust anybody.

And I still have an image of Roger's
face when he would tell me that.

I felt like he was searching.

He was like, how could
my dad do that to me?

So there was a lot of anger.

There was a lot of anger.

And I think he
capitalized on that.

Al D'Amato, a
family man fighting...

Deukmejian, the
difference is leadership.

I'm Dan Quayle, I'm very
optimistic about our future.

Ailes Communications did political
media consulting for congressional races,

senatorial races,
gubernatorial races.

When we were a small team doing 14 races
in 14 different states simultaneously.

We did a lot of
executive coaching

and we did political coaching.

And because of the Nixon campaign and
the fact that he had pulled that thing off,

you were lucky to get him
and you had to keep him happy.

As Jefferson County Judge, Mitch McConnell won
national recognition for exceptional leadership.

Mitch McConnell was a judge.
He was way down in the poles.

He was going to lose.

And Roger was hired to
do a bunch of commercials.

So we were doing a fishing spot

and we had him in the
boat, fishing rod in hand.

We put a worm and
a fish on the hook,

reeled it into the water and
then we hear this little voice go,

"what do I do now, Rog?"

And it was Mitch McConnell and
Roger looks at me and I look at him

and Roger says, you know,
reel in the fucking fish, Mitch.

Mitch didn't move
without listening to Roger.

And a month later,
he's a US senator.

I'm here with Roger Ailes who has been called
the Ernest Hemingway of campaign advisers.

The bearded veteran of many
political wars, Roger Ailes,

arrived early this morning
for a final day of practice.

From 1984 to 1988, Roger was the
absolute number one Republican strategist.

Roger Ailes, former TV man for Nixon,
was seen here in South Dakota this fall.

We were in every
state in the country

and Roger was a pivotal figure
in getting Ronald Reagan elected.

He was like a king maker.

And he knew that he could blow his opponents
out of the water and that's what he did.

ROGER AILES: I HAVE
TO TAKE THE HEAT

ALTERNATELY DEFIANT AND
TROUBLED ABOUT HIS NOTORIETY

I remember I came
into the office one day

and he said you may have
to take over for a few days,

because I was arrested.

I was carrying a
gun in Central Park,

so I may go to jail.

And I didn't know he had a gun

but Roger was he was a Maverick,
he was a bad boy and he liked that.

I know you've heard
people are afraid of me.

I don't remember
threatening anybody

but if somebody comes to me
looking for a fight, they might get one.

My dad taught me how to fight.

He said, remember
son, for them it's a fight,

For you, it's life or death.

And now to tonight's focus 88
coverage of the race for the White House.

President Reagan is stomping in Texas trying
to help the George Bush for president campaign.

An NBC News Wall Street Journal call shows Dukakis
beating Bush by 15 points in a head to head.

Try it with the glasses.

Bush is already
initiated damage control.

Big Rog, how are
you? Glad to see you.

First thing I did was
with George H.W. Bush.

Roger was reading him
out for a production manager

and when I realized
what it was which was,

which was Republican
commercials,

I said I don't think I really want
this I was always very liberal,

but I needed a job.

What's going on?

Vice President Bush
was a real gentleman

and I don't think he
understood the down and dirty,

the world that
Roger could relate to.

Roger always knew the lowest
common denominator in people.

He knew how to strike at that.

And I think that's why
George used Roger.

He needed a bulldog. He needed
somebody who could play that game.

And that might have been the beginning
of it of the negative really negative ads.

Which candidate for president gave weekend passes to first
degree murderers who were not even eligible for parole?

Michael Dukakis.

Dukakis not only
opposes the death penalty,

he allowed first-degree murderers
to have weekend passes from prison.

One was Willie Horton who murdered a
boy in a robbery stabbing him 19 times.

Despite a life sentence,

Horton received 10
weekend passes from prison.

Horton fled, kidnapped a young couple, stabbing
the man and repeatedly raping his girlfriend.

Weekend prison
passes. Dukakis on Crime.

The message of the Willie Horton
ad was if you elect Michael Dukakis,

he's going to let all these black men out of prison
to come and stab your children, rape your wives.

- Do you think it's racist?
- No, I don't think it's racist.

I think the man I see there
is neither black nor white.

If you put a white man up
there, would that be racist?

That it has that effect of scaring the
difference out of white people, doesn't it?

Well, the Bush campaign had
absolutely nothing to do with that ad.

In fact, I wish it would
never have aired.

He says he didn't
do the first one.

The most controversy ad.

But he certainly promoted the entire storyline
of Willie Horton and scary black men.

While out, many
committed other crimes.

It was revolutionary at
the time and it worked.

Ladies and gentlemen, the
President of the United States.

There are only a
handful of people

who can so critically affect
the power in this country

over decades and Roger
is absolutely one of them.

And when you think about the people
who are running a country even now,

all these senators and
congressman, he put them there.

That's definitely Roger.

Because his stories about Nixon or everybody else.
It was what he did for them. How he made them.

You know, without them they
would not be where they are.

And so everyone
wanted to be in his sphere.

Everybody.

You know he was
the big guy right?

Did he take advantage of
that? I don't I don't know.

I don't know.

Everybody has an agenda.

He used to say that a lot

and you have to see
what it is that they're after

and then you can
manipulate them that way.

I think he liked to pick on
the people who needed him,

who were vulnerable.

Not just women, but
women were easy targets.

You know, and anybody who
looked up to who wanted to be there,

you know, who thought, oh, I'm at the
top of my game if I'm working with Roger.

Like Judy, his secretary,

she worshiped him

and I knew anything I said to her was
basically talking in his ear at the same time.

Was she his mistress then?

I can't say that I
saw it specifically,

but there were, I mean, it
seemed a universal acceptance

that everybody knew it
and it was just a giggle.

His wife, Norma, was
already staying at home a lot.

She'd do a little bit in the editing room and
stuff but Judy was in constant contact with her.

And I think that he kind of liked that he could sort of play
the mistress off of the wife and the wife off of the mistress.

I think he was very insecure and he
needed that feeling of having a harem.

It was like, look at me. Look at me. I got
em both and they do what I want them to do.

My assistant can look at a room

and say, watch the fourth guy
on the left, he hates your guts.

Oh, she can read a room.

She goes in,
she's very friendly.

Asks if they want coffee and
they think she's the secretary,

but she's reading the
room before I go in.

I was a big fan of Roger Ailes.

I had read his book and in
my industry, he was the man.

My husband was working with CNBC

and he said, Roger Ailes is coming
in. Would you like to meet him?

So, I thought that
sounded wonderful.

We met in a restaurant
at Union Station

and had a nice meeting

and I mentioned to Roger that I was going to sign
a contract with one of the big national committees

and this is a career
making contract.

Once you hit that
level, you'd made it.

But once we got into his car, we're
barely pulled away from Union Station

and he leaned over and said,
you know, I can really help you

but if you want to play with the big
boys, you have to lay with the big boys.

It just came out of nowhere

and it was very transactional.

So one point I sort
of sarcastically said,

well now, would I have to be
anybody else's special friend?

And he said, well, you might have to give a few blowjobs
here and there but everyone will know you're with me.

And a million thoughts were going
through my head. How do I get out of this?

Because I didn't want to offend him and
risk some kind of struggle in the backseat.

So I just said I'm I'm going to
think about it and I'll get back to you.

And he said well you know if you don't agree
now there's a good chance you won't later on

and I said well we're just
going to have to take that risk.

So I dropped him off and I was just
remember shaking on the way back,

Why did that happen?

Why do I have to
put up with that?

Why?

So the next morning
thought that's behind me.

I'm not going to see him again.

So I went to the national committee for my
meeting which I had confirmed the day before

and I got to the the front
desk and he said oh he's busy.

That's strange.

And the next day I got a
call from Roger Ailes at home.

And he said how
does your meeting go?

And I said well, very
strangely, it it didn't happen.

And he said no you'll
probably hear from them.

What did you decide?

And I said I'm going
to have to pass Roger.

It's just not something
I'm comfortable with.

And he said okay
that's that's fine.

Good luck with everything.

I said, yeah, fine. Okay
good. So I hung up and

didn't really think a
whole lot more about it.

Except I wasn't getting any of my
calls returned to the national committee.

And after a couple
weeks I thought

there's something wrong here,

so I asked a
friend to ask around

and he called me back very
quickly afterwards and said

you're on a "no hire list".

A "no hire list"?

And then all of a
sudden it all fit into place.

That's what Roger had done.

And that was the
end of my career.

If you want to have
tremendous political influence.

And still be a womanizer, drug abuser, or an alcoholic,
you only have one choice of career and that's journalism.

Because journalists won't attack each
other. They only attack all the rest of us.

And anybody who
denies it is lying.

A NEW FORM OF NEWS.
AMERICA'S TALKING.

Well, I first met Roger
Ailes in the early 90s

when he was starting a all-talk
network called America's Talking.

You know, I think Roger wanted to be known during this
time as a incredible TV executive, not a politician.

I congratulate Roger on his new
position as Geraldo Rivera's boss.

I'm politically correct now.

It was an image thing that he
really wanted to bury his political past.

First I want to ask you why a talk network, you know, it seems that
talk shows a come and go, the networks are saturated with them,

why does this seem
a good direction to go?

There is a certain
segment of our society

who really want to watch other Americans
talking about things they care about

and I think you're going to see a big
audience develop for this kind of thing.

America's Talking,
a new form of news.

America's Talking
was Roger's baby

and every single host,

every single show idea
was from Roger's mind.

He created 12 hours of TV live.

That's almost insane.

And I was saying horrible hideous stuff about
how some women are able to ejaculate like men.

Roger didn't care.

As long as the show was juicy
and interesting and he was all for.

Hello, I'm Terry Anzur.

Short skirts were encouraged

and on America's Talking,
I had a see-through desk.

And underneath were
lights that shined on my legs.

They didn't put the light
on Chris Matthews' legs.

- Good night, Chris.
- Good night.

You know, when I look back at America's Talking, I realized
that there was so much that you saw on Fox later on.

The mainstream media in
America is biased and abusive.

A lot of people don't know that Sean Hannity
started on America's Talking covering the OJ trial.

Hello, I'm Bill O'Reilly,
thank you for watching.

And Bill O'Reilly was
doing Inside Edition.

He would fill in for Roger
every once in a while

and that's really how they
got to know each other.

But I think deep down inside

Roger wanted to be
in front of the camera.

In fact American's Talking
gave himself a show.

Straight Forward
with Roger Ailes.

My staff told you I didn't want the
drag queens. Did they tell you that?

It's cross-dressing. It's been
going on since the Mona Leo.

I know. I'm for instance a female.
You would never guess that.

- I've lived this.
- That would be okay.

We'll be right back with the first
brother, Roger Clinton. Stay with us.

Big Roger loves show business.

Just love the spotlight.

He used to take tap dancing
back in those days for exercise

and I think that's who
Roger really wanted to be.

Right now, everybody thinks
I'm the greatest guy in the world.

I'm sure you've
heard that a lot.

My doctor told me
I'm old, fat, and ugly

but none of those things is
going to kill me immediately.

Everybody fears the unknown

but I have a strong feeling
there is something bigger than us.

Beth Tilson was a CNBC executive

who was promoted to
help run America's Talking.

Before then, it was always
Roger and Judy, Roger's assistant.

You know, he almost said the two
names in the same breath in a lot of ways.

Then, it was Beth and Roger.

Beth was a cross between
Marilyn Monroe and a school mom

and had eyes for only one person

and that was Roger.

Oh, the wedding.

Beth had a white suit with fur,
very elegant. Roger was in black.

Giuliani was the officiant

and it was just me
and Barbara Walters

and Geraldo was there

and Roger, he was so happy.

We reached the magic
number of 20 million subscribers.

And all of a sudden it wasn't
Roger's little playground anymore.

NBC went "Wow.
This is a real channel."

And we should be
getting more value out of it.

Now, the story goes that Bill
Gates wanted a news network.

So, he approached NBC with
his chatbook and NBC said,

we've got this network over in
Fort Lee called America's Talking.

It's yours.

A new partnership between NBC and
Microsoft is heating up the media wars.

The two companies have announced a new
24-hour worldwide cable TV news channel.

It is called MSNBC and NBC President Bob Wright
says he hopes to have it up and running by summer.

I got a phone call from
a friend of mine saying,

your friend Roger threw a chair across the room,
called the car, and stormed out of the building.

So I called Roger in his car and I
said hey I heard something went down.

Are you okay?

And he said "Felycia
I'm going to fuck them."

I'm going to fuck them like
they've never been fucked before.

And I knew something would be
born out of this need for revenge.

Thank you very much for your
attendance at such a short notice.

I just like to say how delighted I am that we've
now reached this moment when we can firmly announce

the starting of a
Fox News Channel.

We've been very lucky in being able to
obtain the services of mister Roger Ailes

who has had such
a fantastic success.

Mister Ailes is here

and he might like to add a few words
but we'll be ready to take your questions.

It really is exciting to join what I think is the
most dynamic television company in the world today

and I've always admired mister
Murdoch's ability to get things done.

It's a tough competitive world but we intend
to be when the music stops to have a chair.

The all news game has become
a serious and a nasty business.

As media mogul Rupert Murdoch enters the 24
hour news competition with his Fox News channel.

CNS Ted Turner insisted he would
squish the Australian tycoon like a bug.

Rupert had wanted to launch
something like Fox News for years.

He loved taking on taboos
in his tabloids in London

and had always wanted to
puncture the establishment.

They wanted us to beat the crap
out of the other cable channels

at their own game

and about 10 weeks before
Fox actually went on the air

Roger had all of us in the
company come to New York

and he gave this rip roaring speech about how the networks
had been around for so long that they were antiquated

and that we were
going to be a pirate ship

that while everybody else were these sort of battleships and
aircraft terriers that would take a long time to turn around,

we were going to be nimble,

we were going to strike hard and we're
going to have a whale of a time doing it.

Good morning, welcome
to Fox News Channel.

Fox News was an absolute
hoot at the beginning.

Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thank you
for watching on our very first day.

There were people who had worked
with Roger at America's Talking and CNBC.

And some people who work
with him in a political sphere.

Welcome to Washington.
I'm Brit Hume.

And to all of us who started
was like "Yes. This is great."

Well, we're going to try to be
different. Stimulating and a bit daring.

Loyalty was a theme
that came up every day

because all the people
around Roger would tell us,

you know, Roger really likes loyalty.
Loyalty is really important to Roger

and people who would do something nice
for Roger would often pop up on the air.

We did all sorts of segments
that didn't make any sense to me.

They'd say, FOR,
friend of Roger.

It was imparted to me right from the very beginning that it wasn't
about journalism, it was about drawing the biggest audience possible.

A library board in Helena, Montana voted unanimously to
keep the book The Joy of Gay Sex on a library shelves.

Alright, that's good.

Book that for the
D block on Tuesday.

We used to call it
riling up the crazies.

That's what we're there to do.

We were there to stir up outrage

because that is what
kept them watching.

Whitewater Independent Counsel, Ken Starr
is reported to have a number of audio tapes

on which a former White House intern Monica Lewinsky told
fellow staff that she was sexually involved with the president.

They must have fallen on their knees
at Fox when the Lewinsky thing hit

and never stop thanking
god for that blue dress.

Because Roger and Beth, they despise
the Clintons and everything they stood for.

Bill Clinton is very
slick, very glib.

He has 15,000 press secretaries

and it's clear she's not going
to get the Betty Crocker award.

Wouldn't stand too close to her.

Could President Clinton have had an affair
with an intern and then try to cover it up.

Fox News correspondent
David Shuster has the story.

Yesterday, the White House released a response
to Kenneth Starr's detailed report to congress.

The Clinton scandal was the rocket fuel
that got Fox News into the stratosphere.

We were kicking the
network's ass on the story.

Day in and day out.

Fox News has learned it was
Linda Tripp who befriended Monica.

And within two or three months, it was
"Wow. Fox News has something going."

Attorney General is now started
a 90-day preliminary inquiry...

...in the United States to
testify under oath that he didn't...

Mr. Clinton is also accused
of obstruction of justice.

I remember it was a huge
celebration at Fox News in New York

and I was asked to come up and
meet with Roger Ailes in his office.

This was after we got the
information about the cigars

and he says, what is this sex
stuff? What was really going on?

And so I said, well, there's
some rumors about cigars

or something that was involved in
their sexual play and Roger loved it.

He was scintillated by it.

But the idea that Bill
Clinton would be sloppy,

allow an intern to
blab to her friend.

That's where the contempt came.

Because Roger Ailes did not
respect people who got caught.

There's someone in the room today
whose wings are much bigger than mine.

His wings have a
wide span of generosity

that every day lifts
up so many people.

The one and only Roger Ailes.

I was beyond flattered that Roger
Ailes was talking to me like this.

Since 11 years old, I
wanted to be a news reporter.

I was working at this
little local TV station

and I got meeting
with Roger Ailes.

So, I went in there and sat at
the seat across from his desk.

He said, no, no, come over here

and then he sat down at a couch and he patted right
next to and he said, come sit right next to me.

He said to me you know here at Fox News in
order to be beautiful it's not just waist up,

it is the entire package.

People want to see a woman
from you know head to toe

and he looked me up and
down admiringly and said

you definitely are
beautiful enough to be here

and I said thank you and then
he said but I'm not 100% sure.

He said stand up
and twirl for me.

I want to see everything

and I just looked
at him and laughed.

And then a week later a friend of mine had dinner with
Roger Ailes at this Italian restaurant in Midtown.

And he said to me Lidia
he's I talked to him about you.

He wasn't not serious
about bringing you on.

I said well what do you mean?

Said he asked
about you sexually.

He asked what kind of girl you
were and I said you're a good girl.

But I think that it
was in a way a test.

I think I failed because
I didn't hear back.

An Access of Evil standoff
as Fox reports tonight.

Hello, everyone.
I'm Alisyn Camerota.

If you wanted something,
I wanted more opportunity,

I wanted to try to anchor.

I think that he saw that
as what do I get out of that

and so when I went to him to
ask him for more opportunity,

he said, well, I would have to work with
you more closely if that were to happen.

I would have to train you,
give you sort of tutorials and

you know people might be jealous and so we would
have to we'd be best if we did it away from here,

perhaps at a hotel sometime

Do you know what I'm saying?

And I said "Yeah, I think I
do know what you're saying."

I mean I knew I was never going to go meet
Roger at a hotel, that was unthinkable to me.

That was never going to happen, but I
didn't know what was going to happen next.

I think I was I was going
to be fired if I didn't do it.

I didn't know how he was
going to make that happen.

I mean Roger was the king.

His assistant was the head of HR

and so it didn't occur to me that there was somebody
higher than Roger who could have done something.

There wasn't.

And weren't people in Fox News
putting out salacious online material?

There were many websites.

I think one was called
the Hot Women of Fox.

There were different websites
about different body parts.

There were websites
dedicated to feet.

They wanted people to think of the network in that way. They
were using the women who worked there for a very specific purpose

and it was to be sexualized for their viewers and
we learned later for the people in the building.

And so that was the
culture of the time.

And there was nobody who
was willing to challenge it.

If Fox News is the house that Roger
built with some help from Rupert Murdoch,

look at this group here on the stage
with you and why did you pick them?

Somebody once asked
me how I hire talent

and there were, I made a list and there were
27 things on the list, which is a secret list,

which one day will come out of the
book I'm writing about all you people.

All of us are veterans that
we've worked for other companies

and most of those
companies are horror shows.

This company is
a little bit different

because they let you...

they don't micromanage and Roger Ailes hires people
with whom he has confidence and then he lets them go.

Alright, we have to take a break
here and we're going to be back.

We're going to talk about the milestones that
changed Fox News and changed our country.

It was October 2004.

I came into work one evening,
I was working the evening shift,

and I look around the newsroom and every
computer in the newsroom was on this website,

and my buddy is, he's like,
dude, you gotta read this shit.

It is an absolute
bombshell of an allegation.

A sexual harassment case against
popular cable TV host Bill O'Reilly.

One of his associate producers, Andrea Mackris,
alleges that in one phone conversation,

O'Reilly fantasized you would
basically be in the shower.

I would take that little loofa thing
and kind of soap up your back.

I like the part about you wanting
to rub falafel on that lady's boobs

and the part about
how you love vibrators

and the part about how you believed it when
a prostitute told you you had a big penis.

You said on your show yesterday, this is one of the
most evil things you've ever experienced. Why so evil?

Why do you think
she's doing this?

I have no clue,

but my career could be ruined
and I'm very well aware of that

but I can't let people do this.

What was interesting about
that case with Andrea Mackris

is she was somebody
who had evidence.

Multiple recordings of what
was obviously sexual harassment

and also threats
and intimidation.

If any woman ever
breathed a word,

I'll make her pay so dearly that
she'll wish she'd never been born.

I'll rake her through the mud,

bring up things in her life and make
her so miserable that she'll be destroyed.

If you cross Fox News
Channel, it's not just me,

It's Roger Ailes who after you.

Ailes operates
behind the scenes,

strategizes, and makes things
happen so that one day, bam,

The person gets what's coming
to them but never sees it coming.

It was apparent to
everyone that he was guilty

but Bill O'Reilly had the highest
ratings. He brought in the most money.

You know, he was kind
of the face of the network.

So, Roger protected Bill. You know, just
like Roger was Rupert Murdoch's cash cow.

Bill O'Reilly was
Roger Ailes' cash cow.

So, he helped smooth
everything over.

You want the truth? You hire Bo Dietl. You
want something else? Go hire slim old PI.

Find the truth. That's
all I do. Is find the truth.

Bo Dietl is a former NYPD cop

who became a
regular on Fox News.

Who's the go-to guy to defend Stop and Frisk or argue
that Trayvon Martin deserved to die or whatever.

Where was he when two
officers got killed in New York?

And he also had this private eye
business where he worked for Roger

doing security and
investigations for Fox News.

Well, I'll say it right now.

I respected Roger Ailes because
the man did so much for America

and for the people of Fox.

On the Mackris case, we
were assigned to follow her

and to gain any kind of information we
could where it was detrimental to the case.

They took the information that Bo Dietl was digging up and leaked
it to the New York Post which was owned also by Rupert Murdoch.

They said Andrea
Mackris is a slut.

She's a drunk. She's
trying to entrap Bill O'Reilly.

It's going to be a
message to people.

When you file these frivolous lawsuits and you think you're going
to get people well-known to give you money for garbage like this.

We're going to investigate you. We're going to uncover that
we've already about your life so you're wide open right now.

So, beware people.

That was the tactic, like,
smear her, put pressure on her,

and as it turns out, it worked.

They settled it. She can't talk

and he skated.

His ratings went up from there.
His salary went up from there.

Fox News was making so
much money, no one cared.

Good morning, everyone. Today is Thursday. It's September 20th. I'm
Gretchen Carlson. Thanks so much for sharing part of your day with us today.

So Rupert, what made you think
that this whole thing would work?

I just had a hunch that you know, there was a room
for another point of view and then another service.

Rupert Murdoch is a
genius in terms of media

but more importantly, what
he does is he bets on people.

I don't think we ever had a written business plan.
I think we talked through what we're going to do

and he backed it
but really let me run it.

Now, if I'd screwed
it up, I'd be dead.

Roger and Beth were extremely
impressed with Rupert Murdoch.

I remember one time Beth called me
after we had dinner at Rupert's house.

She couldn't believe the
table and the table setting.

They were pulled into a class and
circle of people who are way above them.

So they had a lot
of catching up to do.

Cuz Rupert was really doing what
Roger had pictured himself doing.

Conquering a new world.

So Rupert bought
the Wall Street Journal.

What's the name of
Roger's little newspaper?

Putnam County News and Recorder.

Yeah, the Putnam County
News and Recorder. There you go.

That says everything.

BIG-TIME CABLE NEWS
TO SMALL-TOWN PAPER

ROGER AILES, THE CHAIRMAN OF FOX NEWS, LIKED
HIS LOCAL NEWSPAPER SO MUCH HE DECIDED TO BUY IT

I was actually told about
the sale the night before

and I think the
first thing I said was

"has he seen this?"

Because it was a one room
antiquated equipment little dinky thing.

At that time it was a very typical sleepy small town weekly
newspaper that reported on the school board and the town board

and Cold Spring
itself is 1900 people.

There's definitely an air of Americana that it has
that main street that's leading down to the river

right across from West Point

and the whole Cold Spring area is
steeped in revolutionary war history.

The community was shocked that
this media mogul, this political kingpin

would have any interest in coming to Cold
Spring and buying this little weekly newspaper

and we thought, you know, is he going to do
with this local paper what he does at Fox News?

I think Roger and Beth wanted to
become Lord and Lady of the Manor.

Almost worshiped in the town.

Those institutional land holders are the ones
we're trying to support keep that property

in those hands and out
of the hands of developers.

Why would everybody
not be equal under the law?

Businesses, private...

There's probably no
greater position to hold

than to be a citizen
of the United States.

First time I met him was in the
Helding School cafeteria after meeting.

And the first impression I had
was this guy is, you know, a bully.

Let's not get out of hand.

We're not going to
get crazy here tonight.

We're here to hear your concerns

and answers your questions.

He was convinced we were going
to tell him he couldn't cut trees down.

He couldn't keep his view.

So he got people round up.

It's because he was
sort of a master at that.

George Washington said,

a violation of my land is
a violation of my being.

That is at our core.

Who is surreal

Ailes showed up
with his attorney.

He was locked and loaded

and you know ready to
go out there and do battle.

And after we had the debate, Ailes walks up to me let me know he
owned the newspaper let me know he owns the courier across the county

and essentially said look if I'm not
happy you're not going to be happy.

It wasn't a big threat. It
was like, yeah, okay, fine.

You want a newspaper, great.

In hindsight, I
was a little naive.

When Roger took over the paper,

definitely became
a political tool.

They put fourth candidates
for a village office, town office

who had no background in
anything to do with local government.

They got a guy to run against me who was
just, you know, regular working guy like me

and they put a lot of money into
billboards and prepping him for debates

and Roger, he told me he had never lost any
election campaign he'd gotten involved with.

And he was going
to see me at office.

And we came here with a mission
to change this town from blue to red.

Listen to this one.

Roger Ailes needs enemies

like a tank like a
tank needs fuel.

How come? Why the pugnacity?

Well, I would argue with that. I
don't need enemies. I have plenty.

But if somebody gets over the line or
challenges in some incorrect way I will respond.

Roger saw himself as a general

and nothing brought more
joy to Roger than a battle.

He was like John Wayne leading
the Green Berets through Vietnam

and if there was no battle,
he would create the battle.

Which is what he
did with Fox News.

Dividing us between the
Conservatives and the Liberals.

Roger thought that we were in a
war against our way of life, against evil,

and he was very moved by stories
of patriotism and stories of heroes.

How is he?

Pretty bad, sir but still alive.

He had hemophilia

and he said, I couldn't
serve in the military

and that's a big regret of mine,

but I consider this my

payment to the country and I
consider this my battle station

and I'm not leaving
my battle station.

I'm afraid for our country
and for our children's futures.

It's just really a
scary time in history.

This is about the systematic
dismantling of this country.

People are fired up. They're upset
with the government. If I got that right.

Americans love their families.

They love their flag.

They think schools have gone off
the edge and killed American history.

I built Fox understanding the pressures,
worries, and aspirations of average Americans.

I love these people.

This is Vivian in Cincinnati and
Roger Ailes, we love you here.

Keep up the good work.

I want to thank Fox News for bringing polite
issues that don't get covered by the other network.

Mister Ailes, I'm missing Fox and
Friends to see you this morning.

Don't do that.

We need all the viewers
we we can get on Fox.

Turn me off immediately
and go to Fox & Friends.

Lots of people are
smarter than Roger Ailes.

Lots and lots.

But nobody was
as canny as Roger.

He could read a
person very fast.

He could read a room very fast

and boy, did he get the
temperature of the country

when nobody else did.

That's nice. You see?

Oh, wow. It's great. His
numbers are fantastic.

Roger absolutely understood
from all the time in politics

that frightening people,
pouring gasoline on that fire

that gets people
glued to their television.

That was the genius of Roger.

Knowing how to speak
the language of America.

More blood, more red meat.

I gotta get you outraged
so you watch more.

- Caution.
- Listen up America.

It is happening, America.

I am telling you
America as we know it,

freedom of speech
as we know it is over.

The left has been
preparing and indoctrinating.

They're going to take away
your constitutional rights.

They sneer at you. They
have contempt for you.

Who's going to stop
this madness? You.

Are you paying attention now?

When you're watching
Fox News, you think

these people are just kind
of peddling these theories

because they want more viewers
and they're catering to their base,

but based on my conversation
with Roger Ailes he truly believed in it.

Barack Obama has deep
emotional ties to Islam

He said to me Barack Obama he's really not a
Christian he's a Muslim his father is Muslim.

He could deny it all he
wants but he has an agenda.

What do you think that was?

To ruin America,
to bring it down.

He felt like the president
at the time was a threat

and it was almost like his duty as the
head of Fox News to get the truth out.

Barack Obama's father who
abandoned his family was a Muslim,

who eventually turned atheist.

Barack Obama has dozens of unelected and unaccountable
czars working to execute his radical plans.

Let's give his new
Green Job czar.

The guy is, again,
black liberation theology,

a black nationalist.

This is part of the movement that is trying to get Islam
specifically Sharia Law infused into the legal court system.

This president I think has
exposed himself as a guy

over and over and over again
who has a deep-seated hatred

for white people or the white
culture. I don't know what it is.

Roger Ailes paved the way for
conspiracy theories to go mainstream.

The idea that Barack
Obama is not American,

Pizzagate, whatever it is,

there's no shame now
in promoting this stuff

and in fact, the benefit
is you get airtime

and if you get airtime,
you become more famous.

Donald Trump is
back here with us.

- Great to have you all here.
- You are a man of action.

Trump is such a foxy character

that if he hadn't been real then Roger
Ailes would have created him in a lab.

He can say what he wants, but the fact is that
this guy has not revealed his birth certificate.

He just signs executive
orders all over the place

then that he will
be sued on that.

He'll be out on a golf course in
about 3 years when it comes up.

Everything he
touches turns to trouble

and I was going to use the worst
word but I refuse to use that word.

You know, Trump had a personal relationship
with a lot of the people of the network.

He was on every Fox show.

He was on O'Reilly.
He was on Hannity.

He was on Fox and
Friends. He was everywhere.

Donald Trump, welcome back.
It's it's Monday. It's time for you.

Good morning.

So, Trump was a familiar
voice to the Fox News audience,

which I think is what made him so
palatable during the Republican primary.

That was Roger's
power and influence.

Roger Ailes is one of the most consequential
figures in our cultural history.

And at a time when the news business
as a whole was like dying and failing,

he created one of the most
profitable news ventures ever.

He figured out that there was this white
leaning market that hadn't been cornered.

It aligned with
his own worldview

and in short order, Fox News
became the number one cable network.

Our cable news competition
has been destroyed.

Ratings for liberal
TV news are dismal.

Fox News Channel remained
the top cable news channel...

And then all of his assumptions
have been proven right.

Ailes has signed a new multi-year
contract with the company.

I mean he was
winning. He was winning.

I think when you look at
Roger Ailes in this community,

he tried to take it over but
never really became part of it.

And he may have been a
genius on the national scene,

but I think he really did not get
what the local community was.

I moved up to that quiet village but I had
no idea there was any intrigue up there.

I thought this was a
normal, nice community.

All of a sudden, we
find out, holy shit,

reminds me of the Ia
Drang Valley in Vietnam.

Working at the newspaper
with Roger and Beth,

it was always thinking
the worst of people,

always thinking that
someone was out to get them.

They relished
rousing and dividing

and I just decided I just
can't take it anymore.

Gotta get out.

A great number of
people in their staff left.

It was sizable. It was
you know at least 50%

and we all knew that they
would perceive it as an attack.

About three days
after I left there

I began hearing from people

whom I had sent Facebook messages to, private
Facebook messages, from my own account

that that they knew that
Roger Ailes had looked at them

and in one instance the person
received a phone call from Roger Ailes

and he picked up and he said
and he got this is Roger Ailes

I hear that you've been
making threats about me

and he quoted whatever
innocuous throw away line.

He quoted verbatim from
my personal accounts.

All password projected
signed into by me

and it was
absolutely terrifying.

This feeling that there are really powerful
people who live five minutes from my door

who were out to destroy
me and my little life.

But I was just the copy editor.

Like, why does he care?

You know, during the
election, it got so ugly.

I remember at one point

he said, "I'll park a goddamn Fox
News truck at the end of your driveway

and have them follow
you as long as I want.

And that's not the kind of thing that
you're expecting in small town politics.

You know, they put our house on the
front page of the Putnam County News

and you know, I was
getting letters about abortion

and one guy told me
point blank one time

if I ever see you across
the street, I'll run you over

and it was like,
man, this is nuts.

But in the end, the election
wasn't close, not within 50%.

We're here at McCoy Gallery's house
celebrating the Democratic sweep.

The oppositions here. We've
all shook hands and made it up.

So, we're looking forward
to working for the town

and getting things
back to normal.

After a winning the election

we spent many
many hours together

and he would call me on a lot of Fridays
come on down, I want to talk to you,

on Friday afternoon.

It would be about local issues and then it would
just morph into him telling me about himself.

Trying to impress me.

He would always tell me how much money he made,
"just made a billion dollars last year for Fox"

and it was sad in a way
I'm thinking here's a guy

with all the money in the world

could be anywhere,
be doing anything

and we're in the offices of
Putnam County News having a chat.

I was wondered, does
this guy have actual friends?

Don't you have
somewhere you'd rather be?

He would come right out and say
why do people hate me so much here?

People who believe they are
victims will become victims.

People who believe
that they can win

eventually will win.

Keep your eyes on other
people. Watch what's going on.

Are they agreeing
with you or disagreeing?

I was told my first week on the
job Roger has this place bugged.

He's got the newsroom bugged, he's got the elevators
bugged he's got all the talent offices bugged.

Don't talk shit about Roger.

Don't talk about how much
you love Hillary Clinton,

because we'll fire you if
they hear you talking like that.

At one point, he
called me into his office

and he said, you know, lot of
people doing their homework on you.

I said, I know.

And he said, "so you
have to be careful"

and he said, "I know"

And he said "look, there's
a lot of stuff out there".

He reaches down and he pulls up a stack
of file folders about this tall, literally.

Sits right in front of him

and he puts his hand on there

and he sits there and he looks
at me for a while and he said

"it's always a shame when a man
has a wife as wonderful as yours".

I was like "oh, my gosh" and I leaned up
out of my chair towards his desk and I said

"yes"

and he said "it's always a shame when a
man does something to hurt that woman"

and I said "it is"

"and that's why I'm happy to say
nothing like that has happened"

and he stared at me
for about 30 seconds,

he put the files down

and he said

"but I just want
you to be careful."

He was fishing for something.

He was bluffing. I think there
was nothing in those files.

That was Roger's way of
having control of people.

First thing I tell people at Fox is, if you're
not happy here and you're not having fun here,

you need to get out of here.

Cuz we don't want
to be around downers.

Negative people make
positive people physically ill.

All progress depends
on positive people.

Get away from the other ones.
They're going to drag you down.

I was offered on three
occasions to go and work at Fox.

And I turned them all down.

I think Roger was a
different person then.

And it wasn't a place
that I wanted to work.

And it's sad to me that he
went on to do what he did.

I think he probably
would have been happier

if America's Talking continued.

When I went up
to visit him at Fox,

he seemed happy to see me.

I mean, he was married, he had a son. He talked
a lot about his son, Zach, when I saw him,

but I remember thinking
it was a little bit odd

because he had the bulletproof glass, the
cameras that were feeding into his office.

It was a steal or some
kind of reinforced door,

and he said that he had to protect
himself against the Libyans or something.

Mister Ailes wasn't favorable towards
people of Middle Eastern descent.

He kind of had these
preconceived ideas of them.

And there was one incident,

a horrible incident that a
coworker of mine, Mushfiq,

he had to bring something
to the second floor

and wound up in
mister Ailes' area

and all hell broke loose.

Next thing you know, there was a wall built so
he had to go through a door to get into his area.

Mushfiq was upset.
He was in tears.

They revoked his access,

not to mister Ailes' area, but
to the second floor entirely.

Roger Ailes was a
profoundly paranoid person.

He carried a gun at all times.

He was convinced that
Al-Qaeda was trying to kill him,

that gay terrorists
would come attack him.

Roger Ailes thought
that like Osama Bin Laden

was sitting in his cave

and he had like
the list of people.

And it was like George W.
Bush and then Roger Ailes.

He thought that he was
a world historical figure

worthy of an
assassination attempt.

At the White House
Christmas Party

I was directly behind Roger in line to
have our photos taken with the president,

so I peeked around the curtain

and I watched as
Roger Ailes approached

and Barack Obama turned
around and held his arms out and

saw Roger for the
first time and said

Roger Ailes, the most
powerful man in media.

Step right up.

And Roger went up and shook his hand
and they stood and smiled for the camera

and took the shot.

I didn't know if they were
going to insult each other

or like come to blows because
it had been so tense for so long

and so when we got back the next day I was back at
Fox and I ran into one of the senior vice presidents

who said "oh did you have
fun at the Christmas party?"

I said "oh my gosh I had a great time it was
fascinating" because I was right behind Roger

for the the photo taking and he said "oh
and then you heard the the big moment?"

and I said "yes I did" and he said "wasn't it crazy to hear
President Obama say Roger Ailes the most powerful man in the world?"

and I said "that's
not what he said"

and he said "yes, it is".

I said "he said Roger Ailes the
most powerful man in media".

But there was no point in me
going to like burst Roger's bubble

or call bullshit on it with him,

you know, one on one, because I saw
that that was already the new narrative.

Roger was definitely invested in creating a
myth about who he was and what he had come from

and it was a myth about
overcoming adversity.

It was a myth about success.

It was a myth about power.

For example, the story of Roger jumping to his father
and then being allowed to fall flat on the ground

is such a well-known
literary trope.

The story of how a father teaches
his son the hard lessons of life

it's been used in
literature many many times

and the story happens in the
bedroom he shares with his brother.

His brother denies
that that story is true

but I think it's Roger's effort to create
a kind of "trust no one-victim" narrative

that really fueled him

and Roger really knew
how to manipulate that.

It's hard when you actually
believe in something

and you you don't
want to do harm

but somehow you
just keep doing harm.

Ladies and gentlemen.

Glenn Beck.

Hello, America!

I remember when I
was in Washington DC,

was after the big
thing on the mall

and I remember praying and hearing
"you're standing in the wrong place."

We are truly humbled.

How am I now in this position where I'm the
most polarizing divisive figure in the country?

And it was the
beginning of give it all up.

Get out. Get out.
Get out. Get out.

So, I went into Roger's
office and I said "I'm leaving"

and he said "no, you're not, nobody
leaves" and I said "yeah, you know what?"

Before you say anything,

can I just say something because I
know how this is going to end here,

so just let me say this to
you no matter what thank you

I said thank you for giving the
conservatives a chance to have a voice

and he looked at me
and his eyes welled up

and that meant something to him
that somebody actually sought that way.

I said to Roger, so what
are you, what's next for you?

I said, why are you still here?

And he said I still
have a president to pick.

I still have a
president to pick.

We're in a storm.

Our mast is broken
and our compass is off

and there's a big
damn hole in the boat.

We've allowed ourselves
to be manipulated by others.

Is everything fair game today?

Is everything personal?

A sexual harassment scandal is
rocking the world of cable news.

Gretchen Carlson who until
recently was an anchor for Fox News

is suing the channel's
powerful CEO

Roger Ailes.

She accuses him of firing her
for refusing his sexual advances.

Gretchen Carlson was
a former Miss America.

She's crying. That's obligatory.

She was a violin prodigy

and had used those talents
to get her Miss America crown.

But she also had
a kind of hard edge

and she was sophisticated

even though when she
was on air on Fox & Friends.

She sort played dumb.

We're not supposed to wear
the same color and I just...

It's been one of
those mornings, okay?

No kidding.

But she certainly
went into this prepared.

She had been recording
conversations with Roger

long before her
contract wasn't renewed.

She accused him of
angling her in his office

and asking her to turn around
so he could view her posterior

claiming Ailes has told her

I think you and I have
had a sexual relationship

adding that sometimes problems
are easier to solve that way.

There is a way to
operate in a crisis

and there are a group of
professionals who know how to do that.

When Roger is being accused of sexual
harassment and needs to know he should hire

and who he should
go to for advice.

Who does he call
but Donald Trump?

We operate in a very small
space called crisis communications

but with clients that find themselves, we
always say in difficult or delicate situations.

So, we get a lot of our
work through attorneys.

The day after Gretchen's
lawsuit was filed,

I was on my way home from the gym
and it was about 7:30 in the morning

and the phone rang and it was an
attorney that is a well-known litigator.

He said, I work with
Donald Trump a great deal.

Donald Trump is looking to find someone
who could help his friend, Roger Ailes.

And at that point, we did not know
much about Roger's history with women

and we walked in with the
belief that this was a legal case

and that they were going to
be fighting it on the legal merits.

We pulled in and we were greeted by a woman
who introduced herself as Beth Ailes' sister

and she took us
into the living room,

which was very
heavy chins floral sofas

and seated against the
windows in this huge armchair

was Roger himself larger than
life hooked up to an intravenous bag

attached to one of those
long, those high metal stands

and Beth said Roger
is getting his vitamins.

There was this whirlwind going
on around him and about him.

It was just this
frenetic kind of energy,

war room like, of phones
ringing, people walking in and out.

I just heard from
Alan Dershowitz

Oh, that's so and so is weighing
in. I need to get on the phone.

Rudy Giuliani
could just called me.

Everybody was a guardian
at the gate to protect Roger

and he really responded,
I think, very well to that.

Which is one of the reasons why it offended
him that Gretchen Carlson had sued him.

This no good sort
of talentless reporter.

He said that really the
lawsuit wasn't about the money.

It was about getting attention.

And that she was desperate to be on television and
without being on television she had no reason to live.

And I said you know in the
end all these cases usually settle

because it's not worth
the negative publicity

and it's not worth the impact

and when I said that, Beth Ailes jumped out of her
chair furious and she said, with this look in her eyes,

we will never ever
settle this case

and she looked at us and she said,
you need to understand something.

Roger is more
important than America.

I looked at Warren and I looked at his
pad because Warren was taking notes

and Warren said,
I'm writing it down.

Roger is more
important than America.

Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes is responding to
a lawsuit filed by lawyers for Gretchen Carlson

calling her accusations or
allegations false and defensive.

They said all statements will
be run through Irena Briganti,

the head of public
relations for Fox

who he told us
was a stone killer

and she was intensely in focused on getting as many of
the highest profile and frankly best looking women on Fox

that indeed he
was not a harasser

and Irena was really to say proud that in
one day she'd been able to enlist 22 people

- just to say...
- We're up to 22.

Right, we're up to 22, Roger.

Several female Fox anchors
are coming to his defense,

including Maria Bartiromo, who says I've
known him to be nothing but a professional.

It's very sad because
he's a very good person

and I can tell you that some of
the women that are complaining,

I know how much
he's helped them.

Beth called Kimberly Guilfoyle who was one of the anchors at
something like 6:30 in the morning, the day after the suit was filed.

The idea was to get Kimberly to
read a statement of support on air

while a group of Fox News
women walked in behind her

and formed a sort of semi circle
behind her as a show of support for him.

They had a whole strategy
and the more we push back,

Irena would say
things like, stand down.

So, here's the deal.

If somebody is
paying you a wage,

you owe that person
or company allegiance.

If you don't like what's happening in the
workplace, go to human resources or leave

but don't run down the concern that
supports you by trying to undermine it.

Factor tip of the
day, loyalty is good.

Fox is Ailes' fiefdom

but even he has a boss,
three bosses actually,

Rupert Murdoch and his two sons

and the Murdochs
are now involved.

Rupert had always
protected Roger

but this time it was different because
Rupert's sons James and Lachlan Murdoch,

who had never liked Roger.
Roger never liked them.

Had decided to hire an outside law firm
to investigate the claims against Roger.

He was so dismissive.

He really believed that as
annoying as these two kids were,

you know, he
could flick them off

and that's really why he had to defend this lawsuit so that
they didn't use this as the weapon that they were looking for.

He told us that most
of the talent on Fox

had in their contract that
they had the right to walk.

If anything were to happen to
him and he were to have to leave

and so he was really
intent on showing that

almost every notable name on
Fox was going to leave with him.

Who with any kind of fiduciary
responsibility allows that to happen?

That if the the CEO leaves,

everyone else can leave, all the key
players can leave and destroy the network.

Wow, that's wow.

I think that there
was a part of Roger

that wanted to be remembered
as the guy who built Fox

and as soon as he left,
the whole thing fell apart.

Bill O'Reilly's going to leave if I leave.
Greta Van Susteren gonna leave if I leave.

Janine, I mean, he went
through the whole list.

- But when are we going to get Megan?
- Where do we, right.

What's with Megan? And I read it
said, we'll have to discuss that offline.

Right.

And Beth was livid.

Livid that the answer
wasn't an immediate yes.

Now another Fox News anchor
Megyn Kelly has entered the controversy.

Kelly told investigators Ailes harassed her when
she was a young correspondent in Washington.

It was explicit quid pro
quo sexual harassment

which was you know basically you sleep
with me and I'll give you a promotion.

But I had to shove him off of me and he came back
and I shoved him again and he came back a third time.

And then when I shoved him off the third
time he asked me when my contract was up.

Congratulations, Roger. You
finally achieved your ultimate fantasy.

Getting fucked by two gorgeous
employees at the same time.

Gretchen had started
a #StandWithGretchen

and more accusations
have kept coming out.

Half a dozen additional women claiming the Fox
News Chairman sexually harassed them years ago.

And the dam broke.

People who had been
afraid of him for decades

finally felt a little bit more
emboldened to actually talk about him.

When Gretchen came forward,

I said, I have to support this
woman. I have to let her know

that this has happened for 50 years
with this man and I'm a little nobody

but it happened to me
and I want you to know that.

I was just beginning
to modeling,

and I got a call from the Mike Douglas
Show that we wanted me to come down

and audition

and then I had a call
from Roger Ailes himself

telling me that he wanted me to wear a
garter belt and stockings and high heels

and I thought it
was a little odd but

I was new in this career so I put
them on and went to the audition.

And when I got there,

he took me in his
office, closed the door,

and he said, I want you
to show me your legs

and I said, well, why
would you want me to do

And he said, no, no, no. If your legs look good in the
that stockings and garter belt, I know you have great legs.

Then he asked me
to sit on the sofa,

pull my skirt up, stand
in different poses,

pull my skirt up while he
was taking polaroids off me.

And then he said that he
would put me on the show

but I had to go to bed with him

and I just said kind of off hand
"yeah, right, you and who else?"

and he just said "just me and
a few of my preferred friends."

He was treating me
like I was a whore.

That's how I felt.

And at that point I just
said no. No. I can't do that.

And he said "no, pretty girls
like you are a dime a dozen."

And that's when I ended
the interview and left.

And never enter my head to tell
anybody until I heard about Gretchen.

My son said to me, mom,

Be brave.

Thank you for standing
up for all the women

that go through this.

That just really touched me

that that he was proud
that I was doing it.

I think the twist of the night for Rogers
when he realizes that Rupert isn't behind him.

And he is going to have to go

but there's still muscle memory for
Roger so he's still showing up for work.

So, he's on his
way to the office

and his driver gets a call
from the head of security,

says, please drive him
around the block a few times.

So there's this absurd scene
where his driver drives him around

and then gets word that he's
been locked out of the building.

It's such an ignominious end to not even
be able to come in and collect your things

from the place
that you've created.

They took him out
like a drone strike.

They just wanted to remove
him from the equation.

Once there was that cascade of
allegations and once Rupert Murdoch

obviously made the
decision to fire him,

that was it.

You didn't see him anymore.
They were gone. They were done.

I don't think he wanted to show his face around town
which is he must have cared about his reputation obviously

and it was, that sort of thing
is not good for your reputation.

I will admit to as woman after
woman came forward although

I felt sorry for the women at the
same time I was like he's done.

It finally happened he's done.

And I was happy that it
happened while he was alive.

Fox settled with Carlson agreeing
to pay her a staggering 20 million...

Three weeks later
Gretchen got her settlement

and 14 more women
came forward and said

what about me I've got a
story that's not very different

and it wasn't just
confined to Roger Ailes.

A "sex-fueled-Playboy-mansion
like cult",

that's how host to describe
the Fox News Channel.

We were abused.

Our careers were were destroyed
and our lives were destroyed.

The case gets uglier
and uglier by the day.

Six more women now claim
Ailes sexually harassed them.

In shocking accounts
reported by New York magazine,

half a dozen additional
women claiming...

I didn't realize the extent
to which Roger really was

a predator.

He would have me get
down on my knees and

tell me You know what you are, Laura.
You're my whore. You're my sex glade.

On Fox News, Megyn Kelly
has a new book coming out.

- Have you read it?
- No.

- Haven't I read it? No.
- You're in it.

I'm not that interested
in this, okay?

I'm not interested in making
my network look bad at all

that doesn't
interest me one bit.

Nobody could have predicted
how fast the house of cards fell.

Fire, Bill, Riley.

Bill O'Reilly settled a sexual harassment
claim to the tune of $32 million.

$32 million,

which is around the same amount OJ
Simpson had to pay the Goldman family

in a civil lawsuit for
murdering two people.

Little do we know they would
have this cascading effect

and that in the space of one
year Roger would be ousted,

that Bill O'Reilly
would be ousted.

This was a hit job.

A political financial hit shot to
bring down Fox News and me.

So does that mean things
have changed at Fox?

I don't know.

I don't know.

How harmful has the whole raft of allegations about
sexual harassment at Fox News been for the business?

It's all nonsense.

There was a problem
with our chief executive.

Sort of over the year
but isolated incidents.

Soon as we investigated, he
was out of the place in hours.

Well, 3 or 4 days.

And there's been
nothing else since then

I mean there are
really bad cases

that people should
be moved aside.

And there are other things

which probably amount to
a bit of flirting, you know?

I think Rupert Murdoch is
a disgusting human being.

He allowed so many
abuses to take place

and when Rupert went
on television and said

that what was going
on at Fox News was

flirting, nonsense,
only Roger Ailes.

I knew that I had to respond.

Hundreds of millions of dollars has
gone to settling cases with women

over and over and over again and
we've been told that we have to shut up.

We just wanted to work. That's all
we've ever wanted to do was work.

That is not nonsense.

This is people's lives.

There have been plenty of
settlements that none of us know about.

And women who've disappeared from there because
they're afraid to say anything publicly.

That's how big this was.

Since 2004, sexual harassment at 21st Century
Fox has led to payouts of more than $163 million.

Settlements require silence.

The actual number of cases,
and full money paid, is unknown.

As more and more stories have
come forth since Roger Ailes,

you begin to realize that
people like Roger Ailes

can't get away with all this stuff if there
aren't a circle of people around them,

that make them look
better than they are,

that protect them legally,

that schedule those meetings, that
get rid of people that are problems,

and that's not us and that's
why this is the first time,

publicly, we've really
spoken about it at all.

We really

don't talk about clients and
our clients expect us not to.

But in this case not only
did we not have a contract,

not only did we not have an NDA not only did
we not have any legal reasons why we couldn't.

- Or get paid.
- or get paid.

But it's wrong, it's so wrong

and I can't be part of that and not only am I not
going to be part of that I'm going to expose it

so that these men one day can get some of what they really
deserve which is that there's justice for their victims

Roger died within a
year of leaving Fox News.

Because Fox News was
such a big part of Roger Ailes

that when it all fell apart,
there was nothing left for Roger.

That's who he was.

He was chairman of Fox.

Our former CEO and chairman,

husband to Beth,

father of Zach,

fell at his home in
Florida and did not survive.

Roger Ailes was a patriot.

He was the biggest personality and the most influential
and powerful man I ever personally encountered.

I loved him.

Roger gave every single one of
us on this couch an opportunity.

He put food on our
table and you know,

he went out in such a sad
way but who doesn't have sins?

He will be missed on this
channel. He will be missed.

There's no denying.

He was a powerful, influential
person who changed the country.

Roger knew what fear could do. Roger knew
what paranoia could do to the audience.

They kept coming back.

The big disappointment is that he
used his talent and his media savvy

to build something
that drove a wedge.

To me that's pretty devastating.

I thought that things would be
more different after he was gone

but he casts such a long shadow

that his vision can
actually go on without him.

There is a report out there guys

that the President of the United
States watches us at 7 AM Eastern Time.

So let's take a look at
the White House right now.

If if the President of the United
States is actually watching,

blink the lights
on and off. Okay.

Oh my goodness.