Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly came out swinging again to defend Tucker Carlson from an onslaught of leaks she calls nothing short of a "destruction campaign" orchestrated by Fox News.
Kelly, who has championed Carlson since his firing last week, made her remarks on her Tuesday "Megyn Kelly Show" podcast.
"The orchestrated campaign to absolutely ruin Tucker Carlson continues," she said, claiming Fox is seeking to torpedo Carlson's ability to find a new job.
"It wasn't enough to fire their number one star, in my opinion," Kelly continued.
"Fox News seems absolutely determined to ruin him – to ruin his reputation, to make him unemployable and, ideally, in their view, to make his audience turn on him so that they won't follow him wherever he goes next."
"This is a destruction campaign," Kelly said, pointing the finger at Irena Briganti, Fox's vice president of communications.
Kelly continued: "The media is going along with this . . . allowing themselves to be used as tools by Irena Briganti, who runs the Fox evil communications department, and her bosses, who are clearly allowing all of this."
Last week, Kelly took to her podcast to allege Briganti was behind efforts to smear Carlson.
"And I know it's Irena Briganti, who runs coms and f*****g hates Tucker," Kelly said. "Sorry, she hates his guts, and it's mutual. He doesn't like her, either. None of us do. Nobody likes Irena."
Briganti denied Kelly's allegations in email, stating, "This is completely false and an outright lie."
Briganti has been one of the major executives to survive Roger Ailes' longtime leadership of Fox, as numerous women came forward to allege improprieties at the network only to find themselves being attacked in the press through "leaks."
New York magazine reported in 2016 that "Fox anchors and producers live in fear of crossing Briganti, who is known for leaking damaging personal stories about Fox employees to journalists.
"Several Fox women told me that one of the reasons they did not speak up about sexual harassment in the past was that they were terrified Briganti would find out and smear them in the press," the New York magazine report continued.
In Tuesday's podcast Kelly said Carlson's firing had proved a catastrophe for his former network.
"Fox News is suffering what could fairly be called a bloodbath at 8 o'clock," Kelly said.
"And now their entire prime time is suffering as a result. ...
"It is a devastating event from 8 p.m. forward now on Fox News. ... Fox News is truly in an existential crisis right now. And their solution to their massive error of firing their number one star is to try to ruin him."
Kelly did not say if she talked with the fired host, but alleged Fox News had "never given an explanation" to Tucker for his termination.
Kelly also slammed the The New York Times for its reporting on Carlson, including Tuesday's story that claimed the host had made racist comments by saying in a text, "This is not how white men fight."
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Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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