Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly's stunning silence amid Roger Ailes' sexual harassment scandal was the point at which the embattled CEO knew his storied career at the network he founded was over,
ABC News reports.
ABC News cited unnamed sources saying "The Kelly File" host was being pressured to pledge her support for Ailes after the July 6 filing of a sex harassment lawsuit by fired host Gretchen Carlson — as other top names at Fox News had done, including Greta Van Susteren, Bill O'Reilly and Maria Bartiromo.
When she wouldn't go along, there was "a sense of doom" inside the "war room" that Ailes had assembled in his New Jersey home with advisers — including wife Beth, ABC News reports.
"And what about Megyn?" was the question looming inside Ailes' war room, ABC News reports. "There’s a problem with Megyn. Let’s talk offline."
Ailes had initially thought it was Lachlan and James Murdoch who were trying to use the Carlson lawsuit to dislodge him from his position.
"We're not going to let them win," he declared to his advisers, according to ABC News.
A hard-nosed offense was planned, the outlet reports.
"It was an unbelievable campaign," one source tells ABC News. "There was enormous pressure."
But Kelly didn't fall in line, and in talking with a team of investigators retained by the Murdochs to probe what was happening at the network, alleged that Ailes had harassed her years earlier, ABC News reports.
"But that’s not when Ailes first realized his career at the network he founded was over," ABC News' Josh Margolin writes. "That moment had already come — with a burst of silence."
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