Did Fox News chief Ailes try to protect Rudy Giuliani?

Salon.com

In her suit against News Corp., publisher Judith Regan never names the man she claims told her to lie for Giuliani, but he sounds a lot like Giuliani pal Roger Ailes.

Nov. 16, 2007 | In two recent televised interviews, investigative reporter Wayne Barrett ventured an educated guess about the identity of the unnamed heavy in former ReganBooks publisher Judith Regan's lawsuit -- the suit in which Regan claims that her former bosses at News Corp., the parent firm of Fox News, want Rudy Giuliani to be president. A longtime observer of Giuliani from his perch at New York alternative weekly the Village Voice and the author of "Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11," Barrett takes as a given what many observers suspect, that the executive whom Regan claims urged her to lie to protect Giuliani is none other than Fox News chief Roger Ailes.

"The funny thing about Judith Regan's complaint is that she doesn't refer to Roger Ailes by name for the first 16 pages, right?" Barrett told Keith Olbermann of MSNBC on Wednesday. "But Roger Ailes is ... clearly the person she is referring to as this senior executive who made all these suggestions to her."

The next day, on "Democracy Now," host Amy Goodman opened her segment with Barrett by stating as fact that "Regan ... was talking about Roger Ailes." Barrett responded, "I'm sure you're correct."

Ailes was a veteran GOP political operative before he launched Fox News in 1996, and is also a personal friend and former employee of Giuliani's. But is he really the unnamed "senior executive" in Regan's 70-page complaint?

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In her complaint, Regan describes introducing Kerik to the unnamed senior executive, "who was also a close ally of Rupert Murdoch," and "confid in this executive regarding the details and nature of her relationship with Kerik."

"At the end of 2001," continues the complaint, "this senior News Corp. executive knew full well that Kerik and Giuliani -- fresh from carrying the heroic halo of September 11th -- were well-positioned for greater political power. So when Regan became the victim of a theft at the Fox News Channel, and Kerik -- not Regan -- used his authority as NYC Police Commissioner to send NYPD detectives out to investigate, this executive spun the story that it was Regan -- not Kerik -- who caused the detectives to knock on the doors of Fox News employees, and that it was Regan -- not Kerik -- who was out of control."

"Inside the company, this senior News Corp. executive openly blamed Regan for the incident, even though he absolutely knew that it was not the case. He convinced others (including Rupert Murdoch) that somehow Regan was out-of-control."