Bret Baier vouches for boss Roger Ailes, telling Stephen Colbert the Fox News chief has 'been amazing to me'

Stephen Colbert and Brett Baier talk Fox News, Roger Ailes

(Image credit: Late Show)

Fox News anchor Bret Baier was on Tuesday's Late Show, presumably to talk about the upcoming Republican National Convention. Stephen Colbert began by asking Baier if he's ever done a nude scene (Baier had just commented about Colbert's previous interview), then quickly moved on to the sexual harassment and reprisal claims filed against Baier's boss, Roger Ailes, by former anchor Gretchen Carlson and other women. "What's it like over there in the hallways?" he asked. "What's the response internally that we're not seeing?" Baier, not surprisingly, did not answer directly. Instead, he vouched for Ailes, more persuasively than his colleague Geraldo Rivera.

"Listen, I've worked there 19 years," Baier began. "The Roger I know is somebody who's been amazing to me, amazing to a lot of people at Fox who have come out, publicly and privately supporting him.... These headlines are foreign to me. I know that we have a lot to focus on, we've got a lot to do." Colbert tried again, noting that Baier's job must be harder with the sex allegations making Fox News the story. Baier sidestepped again, saying that Fox News has always been in the headlines, and the news side is focusing on the upcoming presidential conventions, Donald Trump's VP announcement, and, Baier said, his own interview with Trump. Colbert let it go, asking Baier what he will ask Trump. Baier turned the question around, and Colbert said he would ask Trump to define the word "great."

Colbert and Baier talked about the Republican convention in the second half of their interview, and Colbert asked what Baier thinks will happen in Cleveland. "I have no clue, and that's one of the things that is going be really interesting to see," he said, noting that some Fox News personnel covering the expected protests will be assigned gas masks and security personnel. Watch that, and Colbert inadvertently mocking Baier and his Fox News colleagues, in the clip below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.