A former Fox News anchor just put President Donald Trump on notice in his new war on her old employer.
Gretchen Carlson, a former "Fox and Friends" host who in 2016 made headlines by filing a high-profile sexual harassment lawsuit against then-Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, joined CNN on Friday evening to discuss the president's newly released lawsuit against her former employer.
"You worked, of course, for a [Rupert] Murdoch-owned outlet for a long time. You sued Fox. You said Murdoch fostered a culture of misogyny, toxicity," anchor Brianna Keilar said, addressing Carlson. "Are you surprised that Trump did this? And how do you think Murdoch might react?"
"Yeah, I’m shocked. I mean, up until a few hours ago, I would have told you that I didn’t think he was going to do this," Carlson said.
She noted that Trump may be emboldened after emerging successful with ABC and CBS and "bribing law firms to give him free services."
"So I do think that the gloves are off now," she said. "I think that this presents a conundrum for Murdoch and for Trump."
Carlson stressed that Trump was not Fox’s pick for president in 2016, and likely wasn’t their pick in 2024 either. Murdoch, she said, likes to "poke Trump with his power," as evidenced by The Wall Street Journal coming out to hammer him more in his second term.
"Up until now, we have not seen Fox News do the same, right? They’ve been avoiding this story," she noted.
Carlson said Murdoch may have another trick up his sleeve when it comes to taking on the president.
"The card that Murdoch has is that he can tell Fox News to start covering these stories. So that’s also his conundrum, because the last time that that happened, all the viewers went to other outlets," she warned. "So there’s risk for Murdoch in that scenario. But for Trump, there’s also a conundrum, because if Murdoch decides to tell Fox to start covering these stories, that’s a huge risk for Trump."
She concluded, "So they both have a lot to lose in this scenario."
Watch the clip below or at this link.
