Report: James Rosen Out At Fox News Due To– You Guessed It– Claims Of Sexual Harassment

Last month, we found out that Fox News’ Chief Washington Correspondent, James Rosen, was leaving the network.

“James Rosen is exiting the company at the end of the year,” a Fox News spokesperson said. There were no other details beyond that. It was a pretty big deal. He’s been with the network for 18 years. You’d think they’d provide a reason.

Well, now we know. This all goes back to– you guessed it– claims of sexual harassment. According to a report from NPR, Rosen “had an established pattern of flirting aggressively with many peers and had made sexual advances toward three female Fox News journalists, including two reporters and a producer.”

Fox News cited no reason for James Rosen's exit and did not announce it on the air. His former colleagues allege he had made sexual advances toward three female journalists. https://t.co/6Xj1RA2xcT

— NPR (@NPR) January 10, 2018

Aggressive flirting. Yowza.

And his departure followed increased scrutiny of his behavior at the network, according to colleagues.

This story is based on interviews with eight of Rosen’s former colleagues at the Fox News bureau in Washington, D.C., just a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol. Rosen declined to comment to NPR after it set out in detail what it intended to report.

Rosen’s behavior was drawing attention from Fox News at a time when its controlling owner, Rupert Murdoch, declared there had been no allegations of sexual misconduct at the network since the ouster of the late Fox News chairman and CEO, Roger Ailes, in July 2016.

Well, craaaaap. If true, it’s EXTRA bad because he’s a married man.

The accusations against Rosen, who is married with young children, are more severe than that. He developed a reputation as a talented and ambitious journalist called “the professor” on the air by former political anchor Brit Hume for his interest in Watergate (Rosen wrote a book focusing on the life of former Attorney General John Mitchell that argued for a kinder reassessment of his role in that Nixon-era scandal). Rosen has sent such messages, according to his former female co-workers. But in three instances he made overt physical and sexual overtures, according to the accounts of numerous former Fox News colleagues who heard about the incidents contemporaneously.

One female Fox News reporter said Rosen straight up groped her in a cab.

In the winter following the September 2001 terrorist attacks, a female Fox News reporter joined the bureau from New York. In a shared cab ride back from a meal, Rosen groped her, grabbing her breast. After she rebuffed his advance, Rosen sought to steal away her sources and stories related to his interests in diplomacy and national security. That’s according to four colleagues who say she relayed the episode as a warning about Rosen’s behavior. The reporter declined to comment for this story. (NPR has decided not to name the women in this article as they have not granted permission to do so.)

In a subsequent episode several years later, a female producer covering the State Department alleged that Rosen had directly sexually harassed her. A foreign national, she subsequently accepted a deal from Fox that enabled her to extend her stay in the U.S. in exchange for not making her complaint public, according to several of her former colleagues. The producer, who now works for a foreign-based news organization, is abroad with family and did not respond to several detailed messages left by email and phone seeking comment.

Apparently, he displayed inappropriate behavior as recently as last year.

Late last spring, Rosen turned his attention to a younger female reporter, according to two colleagues who say she told them of the incident shortly afterward. Returning from a lunch together, Rosen physically tried to kiss her in the elevator ride back to the office, and once refused, attempted forcibly to kiss her again. According to a colleague, he then asked the reporter to keep the approach quiet and offered her unsolicited help in getting more time on Bret Baier’s nightly political newscast, Special Report. The female reporter declined to comment for this story.

"James Rosen"…another one bites the dust. It’s too bad bc this dude was a legit reporter. Now he’s toast.

— Totally Fed Up (@middleman918) January 11, 2018

@NPR When people are fired, such as James Rosen, you have an obligation to name the people filing complaints. We need transparency!

— Stephen Lamphere (@merovee458) January 11, 2018

Top Fox News D.C. reporter James Rosen left network after, well, you know.

— Paul Wilczynski (@PaulWilczynski) January 10, 2018

I want to hear what Rosen has to say about these allegations…

h/t NPR