Fox News Channel says that it has fired America’s Newsroom anchor and former chief White House correspondent Ed Henry over sexual misconduct claims.
“On Thursday, June 25, we received a complaint about Ed Henry from a former employees’s attorney involving willful sexual misconduct in the workplace years ago,” Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and president Jay Wallace wrote in a memo to staff Wednesday morning.
“We immediately retained an outside law firm (which has never represented Fox News in investigations or litigation) to independently investigate the claims,” they added. “Ed was suspended the same day and immediately removed from his on-air responsibilities pending investigation. Based on investigative findings, Ed has been terminated.”
“Ed Henry denies the allegations referenced in the Fox announcement and is confident that he will be vindicated after a full hearing in an appropriate forum,” Henry’s attorney Catherine Foti said in a statement.
The cable news channel says that a rotating group of anchors will co-host America’s Newsroom alongside Sandra Smith until a permanent replacement is named.
The former employee is being represented by attorney Douglas Wigdor, who represented many of the victims of former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes and former anchor Bill O’Reilly.
Henry, a former president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, joined Fox News as its chief White House correspondent in 2011, after serving in the same role at CNN.
Henry had been previously taken off-air in 2016 after In Touch Weekly reported on an alleged extramarital affair. When he returned to Fox News, he shifted to a new position as chief national correspondent, though he also would appear as a co-host on the channel’s morning show Fox & Friends Weekend.
In December, Henry was named co-anchor of the morning news program America’s Newsroom, alongside Smith.
In the memo, Scott and Wallace reiterated the company’s sexual harassment policies and procedures, which were put in place after the investigation into Ailes. “We encourage any employee who has a sexual harassment, discrimination or misconduct complaint of any form to report it immediately, as we have said repeatedly over the last four years.”
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