Fox News Boss Roger Ailes Offered the Bush Administration 'Help Off the Record'

Fox News chief Roger Ailes sent a handwritten note to then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice offering "help off the record" in March 2005. Gawker's John Cook got the note through a Freedom of Information Act request. It reads:

Madam Secretary:

Great first month. You handled hearing beautifully. If I can be of help off the record—just call.

Warm Regards,

Roger

Ailes's spokeswoman denied both that any help was actually given and that it would be a big deal if there had been. She told Gawker, "Secretary Rice never took him up on the offer which was a personal media-related one. As the head of a news organization, Roger speaks to powerful people from the left and the right all the time."