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Louise Mensch. | Fox News Louise Mensch no longer leading News Corp.'s Heat Street

Louise Mensch is no longer leading News Corp.'s libertarian-leaning website Heat Street. The company and Mensch made the change in mid-December.

Mensch and News Corp. said the move was made so that Mensch could focus on creating new digital media projects for News Corp.

"I've been very lucky; requested in August that I move on to create the other two new media properties I had in mind for [NewsCorp.] when I started. At first they said play yourself into the wicket a bit, but when we hit 8 million [in traffic], they said yes," Mensch said.

"Louise and [Heat Street publisher and managing editor] Noah Kotch have done a fantastic job launching Heat Street (the site went from zero to 8 million readers by November), and in the wake of that success, Louise continued contributing articles to the site and is now incubating several further digital projects for News Corp. (which she's been seeking to do since late summer)," News Corp. Chief Communications Officer Jim Kennedy said in a statement. "In that regard, she is working closely with Chief Strategy Officer Anoushka Healy at our headquarters in New York. She has, throughout, been News Corp VP of Creative and Strategy and Noah has been publisher and managing editor of Heat Street at Dow Jones."

But a News Corp. source suggested another reason for the change: Mensch's activity on Twitter and elsewhere had become a distraction for the otherwise successful website. Mensch has been incredibly active on Twitter, often attacking President-Elect Donald Trump, and talking about various theories regarding intelligence leaks and Russia. She also popped up in John Podesta’s hacked emails where she suggested an idea for an ad for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

The move was nonetheless described by the source as "amicable." News Corp. executives are not prohibited from being openly political, as other News Corp. executives have been public on social media and involved in campaigns in the past.

Both Mensch and Kennedy disputed the notion that Mensch's outside activity affected her leadership of HeatStreet.

"I requested this move in August," Mensch said. "Mr. Murdoch, I am honoured to say, follows me on Twitter and News Corp. is a great company that believes in journalistic independence and doesn't force a view on anyone."

Mensch has a wide-ranging history. A former Conservative member of the United Kingdom Parliament, Mensch is also a successful novelist. While in parliament, she sat on the committee which questioned James and Rupert Murdoch over the News of the World phone hacking scandal in 2011. Murdoch hired her in 2014 and by 2015 she was made Vice President for Creative and Strategy, a position she’s continued to hold through HeatStreet’s launch.

Last month Mensch filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit along with the James Madison Project, a pro-transparency group, which demanded that various federal agencies disclose their files on alleged foreign interference in the 2016 presidential election, as well as leaks related to candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. (Mensch said the lawsuit is for "me as a journalist, and not for Heat Street.")

Kotch, a former NBC “Today” show producer who helped launch Vocativ, will continue his role running the site, which was launched in February of 2016, as a libertarian, center right, “politically incorrect” website.

Hadas Gold is a reporter at Politico.