Less than a month after Roger Ailes was ousted as chairman of Fox News amid a growing list of sexual harassment allegations, Donald Trump has hired Ailes to help him prepare for the upcoming presidential debates against Hillary Clinton, the New York Times reports.
Multiple sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the alliance to the Times. Two of the sources told the paper that Ailes’ role could “extend beyond the debates” if Trump were to be elected president.
Just as a man who’s been in the pay of a pro-Russian regime is managing a Trump campaign with increasing Cold War overtones, a man accused of serial sexual harassment will now be coaching the Republican presidential candidate on how to defeat a woman in the race for the White House.
The Trump campaign is denying the report. “They are longtime friends but he has no formal or informal role in the campaign,” the campaign said in a statement on Tuesday.
This post has been updated.