Roger Ailes Roger Ailes threatens lawsuit against New York magazine

Roger Ailes, the former CEO of Fox News who left the company amid accusations that he sexually harassed women, has indicated that he and his wife might sue New York magazine, the magazine confirmed Monday.

“New York Media and Gabriel Sherman were contacted by Charles Harder on behalf of Roger and Elizabeth Ailes, asking that we preserve documents related to the Ailes, for a possible defamation claim,” a spokesperson for the publication told POLITICO in a statement. “The letter sent by Harder was not informative as to the substance of their objections to the reporting.”

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Harder, who is the same attorney who represented Hulk Hogan in the invasion of privacy lawsuit that bankrupted Gawker Media, is also representing Melania Trump in a defamation lawsuit against The Daily Mail and a Maryland blogger. Ailes has reportedly been advising Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has said he would strive to “open up” libel laws if he were elected president.

The Financial Times first reported that Harder had contacted the magazine indicating that Ailes might sue the publication for defamation.

Gabriel Sherman, the unofficial Ailes biographer who writes for New York, has broken many of the stories about the numerous allegations of sexual harassment against Ailes for the magazine. In the statement, New York magazine defended Sherman.

“Sherman’s work is and has been carefully reported,” the spokesperson said.