Report: Fox News’ Top Washington Reporter Left After Harassment Claims

Fox News’ former chief Washington correspondent, James Rosen, left the network in late December without any public acknowledgement from the network, aside from a one-sentence confirmation to news outlets, nor any celebration of his nearly two decades with Fox News, according to a new report.

NPR reported Wednesday, however, that Rosen had “an established pattern of flirting aggressively with many peers and had made sexual advances toward three female Fox News journalists.” The story cited eight of his former colleagues, without naming them, and detailed three instances in depth, again without naming the colleagues involved.

In the winter of 2001, according to four unnamed colleagues of a female Fox News reporter, Rosen groped the reporter in a cab, grabbing her breast. After she rebuffed him, Rosen “sought to steal away her sources and stories related to his interests in diplomacy and national security,” NPR reported.

Years later, a then-producer for Fox News covering the State Department alleged that Rosen had “directly sexually harassed her,” according to NPR, which cited “several of her former colleagues.” In exchange for her keeping the complaint private, NPR reported, Fox News and the producer, a foreign national, made a deal “that enabled her to extend her stay in the U.S.,” in NPR’s words.

In the spring of 2016, Rosen allegedly tried to kiss a younger colleague in an elevator and then attempted to forcibly kiss her after she refused, two unnamed colleagues of the young reporter told NPR. Rosen then reportedly asked the reporter to stay quiet about the incident and offered her advice for getting on Brett Baier’s nightly show, where he was a regular.

All three women either declined or did not respond to NPR’s request for comment, the outlet reported.