Kimberly Guilfoyle's Departure From Fox News Came Amidst Allegations of Sexual Harassment

A Tuesday article from the New Yorker about Kimberly Guilfoyle, former Fox News host and current campaign finance chair for Donald Trump, provides more insight into the allegations of misconduct and sexual harassment that led to Guilfoyle being pushed out from her role at Fox News. Back in 2018, HuffPost was the first to report that Guilfoyle had been forced to leave her job at Fox after a human resources investigation into her alleged inappropriate behavior.

Now, the New Yorker is reporting that a former assistant of Guilfoyle sent executives at Fox News a confidential, 42-page draft complaint accusing her former boss of repeated sexual harassment and demanding monetary relief. The assistant ended up receiving a multi-million dollar settlement out of court, with some sources saying that Fox agreed to pay the woman over $4 million to avoid going to trial. The details in the complaint by the former assistant allege that Guilfoyle regularly subjected her to abusive and sexually inappropriate behavior.

According to a dozen well-informed sources familiar with her complaints, the assistant alleged that Guilfoyle, her direct supervisor, subjected her frequently to degrading, abusive, and sexually inappropriate behavior; among other things, she said that she was frequently required to work at Guilfoyle’s New York apartment while the Fox host displayed herself naked, and was shown photographs of the genitalia of men with whom Guilfoyle had had sexual relations.

The draft complaint also alleged that Guilfoyle spoke incessantly and luridly about her sex life, and on one occasion demanded a massage of her bare thighs; other times, she said, Guilfoyle told her to submit to a Fox employee’s demands for sexual favors, encouraged her to sleep with wealthy and powerful men, asked her to critique her naked body, demanded that she share a room with her on business trips, required her to sleep over at her apartment, and exposed herself to her, making her feel deeply uncomfortable.

The New Yorker was able to independently confirm a number of the former assistant’s accusations, including that she had been required to work at Guilfoyle’s apartment while Guilfoyle was barely clothed or naked, as well as the allegation that Guilfoyle often shared inappropriate photographs of male genitalia.

In addition to these allegations, the complaint also claims that Guilfoyle offered her former assistant “hush money” in an attempt to cover up her own inappropriate conduct after Fox hired the law firm Paul, Weiss to investigate sexual misconduct at the company under Roger Ailes. Guilfoyle shared her assistant with former Fox New employee Eric Bolling, and initially became concerned after the Paul, Weiss lawyers began investigating accusations of workplace sexual misconduct against Bolling.

According to the assistant, as the investigation into Bolling gained momentum, Guilfoyle told her that she needed to know what the assistant would say if she were asked about sexual harassment, and warned her that she could cause great damage if she said the wrong thing. Guilfoyle, she said, told her that, in exchange for demonstrating what Guilfoyle called loyalty, she would work out a payment to take care of her—possibly, she said, with funds from Bolling. The assistant alleged that Guilfoyle mentioned sums as large as a million dollars, and also other inducements, including a private-plane ride to Rome, a percentage of Guilfoyle’s future speaking fees, and an on-air reporting opportunity.

When the assistant declined the offer of money, Guilfoyle warned—in a manner that the assistant regarded as threatening—that, if she spoke candidly to the lawyers, some aspects of the assistant’s private life that Guilfoyle knew about might be exposed. In fact, as I reported on this story, associates of Guilfoyle’s contacted me, offering personal details about the assistant, evidently in hopes of damaging her credibility and leading me not to publish this report.

The former assistant also alleged that Guilfoyle, despite once presenting herself as a defender of women who had experienced sexual harassment or assault, both contributed to and defended the sexually hostile work environment at Fox News. Guilfoyle was an ardent defender of Roger Ailes, reportedly going as far as to lead a public relations campaign implying to women at Fox News that their careers would suffer if they didn’t support Ailes.

Although Guilfoyle maintains that her decision to leave Fox News was entirely voluntary, she was forced off the network in July 2018, several years before the end of her contract.

When reached by New Yorker for comment, Guilfoyle’s former assistant simply responded: “I wish you well. But I have nothing to say.”