New York — Roger Ailes, who built Fox News into a powerful cable giant that transformed both American television and politics, has died at the age of 77, the network announced on Thursday. The Fox co-founder, a consultant to Republican presidents widely credited with leading a revival of the US conservative movement, was ousted from the network last year under the cloud of a series of sexual harassment allegations. A friend of media titan Rupert Murdoch, Ailes was seen as a central figure in the conservative US political movement, who stood down at Fox in July last year after a sexual harassment lawsuit from former news host Gretchen Carlson. His wife’s statement, first published on the conservative Drudge Report, said: "I am profoundly sad and heartbroken to report that my husband, Roger Ailes, passed away this morning." Ailes, she said, "was a loving husband to me, to his son Zachary, and a loyal friend to many. He was also a patriot, profoundly grateful to live in a country that ...
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