Zev Chafets' look at one of the most powerful figures in the conservative movement — Fox News president Roger Ailes — was released on Tuesday.
In Roger Ailes: Off Camera, Chafets was given nearly unprecedented access to Ailes, and their discussions revealed some untold factoids about Ailes and his network. Ailes and Chafets talked about everything from Ailes' mentorship of then-fledgling radio host Rush Limbaugh to an unlikely friendship with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, who calls him the "most important Republican in the country."
Ailes really hates CNN.
Ailes has a longstanding feud with CNN and its founder, Ted Turner, who famously compared Ailes' and Fox's rise to that of Hitler.
"I wouldn't say he wants everyone over there dead, but it's close," Fox anchor Shep Smith told Chafets of Ailes' view toward CNN.
Chafets also detailed the scene at Ailes' 72nd birthday last May, a night that saw host Sean Hannity's show outpace CNN's Piers Morgan's viewership by nearly 10-to-1.
"It was a victory of epic proportions," Chafets writes, which Ailes, wife Beth and son Zac "celebrated with a homemade birthday cake."
Ailes says he never had an affair with Barbara Walters, but he "probably could have."
Ailes and Walters have a longstanding friendship that dates back to the mid-1960s. Ailes told Chafets that they even went out for a couple dates.
"I dated Barbara a couple times, or took her out as an escort, but we never had an affair," Ailes said. "We probably could have at some point, but we were always married or between marriages or talking about marrying someone. We never got beyond that point. But we trusted one another, and we still do."
President Barack Obama and Ailes met at the White House Christmas party in 2009.
Chafets detailed some behind-the-scenes angles of Obama's testy relationship with Fox News, including when Obama met Ailes at the 2009 White House Christmas party.
"Here comes the most powerful man in America," Obama joked when he saw Ailes.
"Don't believe that bullshit, Mr. President," Ailes replied, according to Chafets. "I started that rumor myself."
Ailes told Chafets that he didn't want to go to the media Christmas party, but he did so because of the opportunity to introduce his son to the President.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider