Report: Roger Ailes Is Prepping Trump for Debates

But campaign denies any formal or informal role for ex-Fox exec
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 16, 2016 1:49 PM CDT
Report: Roger Ailes Is Prepping Trump for Debates
In this September 2011 photo, then-Fox News CEO Roger Ailes speaks at a 15-year anniversary party held for employees at Chelsea Piers in New York.   (AP Photo/2MK Studio/Fox News)

Roger Ailes has reportedly found a new role since resigning from Fox News last month: helping Donald Trump prep for the presidential debates. According to three anonymous sources who spoke to the New York Times, Ailes is helping Trump's team as they get the GOP nominee ready for his first face-off with Hillary Clinton on Sept. 26. The Trump campaign, however, flatly denied the report: "He is not advising Mr. Trump or helping with debate prep," says a statement, per Reuters. "They are longtime friends but he has no formal or informal role in the campaign."

Two of the Times' sources, however, say that Ailes is not only helping with debates but may end up playing a larger role in helping Trump fix what the newspaper calls his recent "series of self-inflicted wounds" that have dragged him down in the polls. Politico notes the pair's "long history," though it also points out Trump had a sometimes-contentious relationship with Ailes' former employer. (More Donald Trump 2016 stories.)

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