Fox News paid Kimberly Guilfoyle’s former assistant $4 million after sexual harassment accusations, New Yorker reports
(CNN) — Fox News paid the former assistant to ex-host Kimberly Guilfoyle upward of $4 million to avoid going to trial after the employee wrote a 2018 draft complaint detailing allegations of sexual harassment against her, The New Yorker reported Thursday, citing two well-informed sources.
Guilfoyle, who currently serves as the Trump campaign’s finance chair, abruptly left her position as co-host of Fox News’ “The Five” in July 2018. At the time, a spokesperson for the network did not provide a reason for her exit and only said in a short, one-sentence statement: “Fox News has parted ways with Kimberly Guilfoyle.”
In 2018, HuffPost reported that Guilfoyle’s departure had come following an investigation into inappropriate behavior, including allegations of sexual misconduct. Her attorney John Singer told the publication at the time that the allegations are “unequivocally baseless and have been viciously made by disgruntled and self-interested employees.”
The New Yorker advanced the HuffPost story, detailing allegations from Guilfoyle’s former assistant. The New Yorker said it was aware of the former assistant’s identity, but given that she had not been publicly identified, and out of respect for potential victims of sexual harassment, it declined to name her in its story.
According to the magazine, Guilfoyle often required her former assistant to work at her apartment where allegedly Guilfoyle would sometimes be naked. The New Yorker added allegations that Guilfoyle showed her former assistant lewd images of men, with some of whom she had sexual relations.
When lawyers at the firm Paul, Weiss started to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct at the network, Guilfoyle allegedly tried to buy her assistant’s silence, The New Yorker reported, citing people familiar with the assistant’s draft complaint.
Guilfoyle did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Singer, her laywer, did not provide a comment Thursday evening when reached by CNN. In a statement to The New Yorker, Guilfoyle said “[i]n my 30-year career working for the SF District Attorney’s Office, the LA District Attorney’s Office, in media and in politics, I have never engaged in any workplace misconduct of any kind. During my career, I have served as a mentor to countless women, with many of whom I remain exceptionally close to this day.”
Fox News declined to comment. Spokespeople for the Trump campaign did not provide a comment.