Just who did former HarperCollins publisher Judith Regan accuse of telling her to lie about her relationship with former NYC police commissioner Bernard Kerik?
As readers may recall, in the midst her lawsuit with her former employer News Corporation, Regan reportedly claimed via her legal team that a senior News Corp executive had asked her to lie about her relationship with then NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik. Kerik was at the time being considered as the next homeland security chief.
According to News Corp, Regan later retracted that claim before parties reached settlement, but the New York Times now reports that affidavits obtained by the paper show that the previously unnamed individual was none other than Fox News chief Roger Ailes.
According to the Times report, Regan taped a phone call with Ailes. And she would later allege a mystery executive — now identified as Ailes — had told her to lie about her relationship with Kerik, reportedly in the context of Ailes’ desire to protect Rudy Giuliani’s then nascent presidential prospects.
Regan was fired from her position at HarperCollins, which is owned by News Corp, in 2006. The publisher filed a lawsuit the year after, and the two sides settled with Regan receiving $10.75 million.
In a statement, News Corp spokeswoman Teri Everett said:
“These issues were resolved in 2008, Further, Ms. Regan is on record in a letter to News Corporation attorneys stating that Mr. Ailes did not intend to influence her with respect to a government investigation. The matter is closed.”
The Times reports that Ms. Everett declined to release that letter to them. The Times also notes that Ms. Regan’s lawyer, Robert E. Brown, disputes News Corp’s description of the letter, saying it did not represent Ms. Regan’s complete statement.
The Times says the new developments stem from a 2008 lawsuit in which Regan’s former lawyers are suing their former client for firing them just before the case was settled, preventing them from receiving a sizable contingency fee.
Read the rest of the Times report here.
[Ed. Note: This post has been edited to remove any suggestion that Ms. Regan agreed to Mr. Ailes’ alleged request.]
