Van Susteren: Fox Execs Failed To Look Into Ailes Sexual Harassment Allegations

Gary Pruitt, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Associated Press, speaks at the National Press Club (NPC) in Washington, Wednesday, June 19, 2013. Pruitt, addressing a luncheon at the NPC, spoke about how the Justice Department violated its own rules in subpoenaing AP phone records. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Gary Pruitt, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Associated Press, speaks at the National Press Club (NPC) in Washington, Wednesday, June 19, 2013. Pruitt, addressing a luncheon at the NPC, spoke about how t... Gary Pruitt, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Associated Press, speaks at the National Press Club (NPC) in Washington, Wednesday, June 19, 2013. Pruitt, addressing a luncheon at the NPC, spoke about how the Justice Department violated its own rules in subpoenaing AP phone records. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) MORE LESS
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Newly retired Fox News host Greta van Susteren came out swinging against her former employer on Friday for declining to adequately supervise ousted chairman Roger Ailes, who left the network in July amid swirling sexual harassment allegations.

“I regret that Roger Ailes was not supervised by those in a public corporation who had the duty to supervise him,” van Susteren wrote in a Facebook post. “This included his seniors, the CFO’s of both Fox News Channel and 21CF (and its predecessor NewsCorp), the Board of Directors and what I assume this public corporation had, outside auditors. Checks written that were suspicious should have been spotted.”

A bombshell investigation published last week by New York Magazine’s Gabriel Sherman said that Ailes paid lucrative salaries to the female employees with whom he allegedly had sexual relationships.

Van Susteren left the network this week after 14 years, on the same day that Fox News paid $20 million and offered an apology to fired anchor Gretchen Carlson as part of a settlement for her sexual harassment suit against Ailes. Van Susteren’s husband called the timing a “coincidence.”

When Carlson filed her suit in July, van Susteren said there was no “ring of truth” to the allegations against Ailes, saying she had experienced no such harassment at the network. As more details came out in that case and more women came forward with their own harassment claims, van Susteren walked those statements back in two posts on her now-defunct GretaWire blog. She said she was only speaking from personal experience and applauded Carlson for going public.

Her latest comments came in response to a Thursday Facebook post from longtime Fox News host Geraldo Rivera, who said he was “filled with regret” for not believing Carlson from the start.

“We all regret it,” van Susteren wrote.

Many other Fox commentators adamantly defended Ailes during the sexual harassment scandal, including Sean Hannity, Neil Cavuto, Bret Baier and Kimberly Guilfoyle.

Read Carlson’s full post below:

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