Greta Van Susteren is exiting Fox News after 14 years, the cable news network announced Tuesday.
Brit Hume will takeover for Van Susteren to anchor “On the Record” starting on Tuesday, and will continue on a regular basis through the presidential election.
“We are grateful for Greta’s many contributions over the years and wish her continued success,” Fox News co-presidents Jack Abernethy and Bill Shine said in a joint statement.
Howard Kurtz, Fox News’ in-house media reporter, noted that Van Susteren wanted to renegotiate her contract after former chairman and CEO Roger Ailes stepped down and had a clause that allowed her to leave if Ailes departed.
“When those negotiations deadlocked, Van Susteren chose to invoke the departure option,” Kurtz wrote, citing a “a source familiar with the process.”
However, New York magazine reporter Gabe Sherman, who has been out in front of the story from day one, wrote that his source disputes Kurtz’s claim. According to Sherman, Van Susteren left because “she is troubled by the culture” at Fox News.
Van Susteren, who was an outspoken defender of Ailes, exits the network on the same day the company settled Gretchen Carlson’s sexual harassment lawsuit against Ailes. Back on July 8, before Ailes stepped down, Van Susteren told TheWrap: “If there were something weird going on … I would have heard it.”
Last month, Van Susteren fired back at people who criticize her for defending Ailes.
“Let’s first get something straight: I did not sexually harass anyone (of course.). And second, I did not know about any sexual harassment and keep it secret,” Van Susteren wrote on her GretaWire blog.
Hume joined Fox News in 1996 and is “happy to take on this assignment for the balance of this extraordinary election.”
“As one of the best political analysts in the industry, Brit is the ideal choice to host a nightly political program while the most dynamic and captivating election in recent history unfolds. Having Brit at the helm of this show will enable Fox News to continue on track to have its highest-rated year ever as the network dominates the cable news landscape,” Abernethy and Shine said.