Gawker Will Go to Court in Fox Investigation

Gawker is going to court to investigate the relationship between the Fox News chairman, Roger Ailes, and Gov Chris Christie (R-NJ).

The company and one of its reporters, John Cook, plan to file a civil suit against Christie’s office to try to obtain records of the communications between the two men. Cook, who regularly uses freedom of information and open public records acts to ferret out information for his Gawker articles, said the court action represents the first lawsuit filed by Gawker to obtain information. The lawsuit has its origins in a New York magazine story in May which reported that Ailes had called Gov Christie and “encouraged him to jump into the race” for president earlier this year. The report piqued the attention of people like Cook who believe that Ailes, a former Republican strategist who has run Fox News since its founding in 1996, still has a hand in politics. Gov Christie has repeatedly ruled out running for president in the current election cycle. In an interview with The Daily Beast weeks later, Ailes denied urging Mr. Christie to run, but acknowledged having dinner with him last summer.