Hi Roger. It's Me, Joe: The Fox Mole
Hi. My name is Joe Muto. I was the Fox Mole.
Two hours ago I was called into a meeting with Dianne Brandi, the Fox News Executive Vice President of Legal and Business Affairs and suspended indefinitely... with pay, oddly enough.
They nailed me.
In the end, it was the digital trail that gave me away. They knew that someone, using my computer login, had accessed the sources for two videos that ended up on Gawker over the past few weeks. They couldn't prove it entirely, but I was pretty much the only suspect.
I denied it, which is why they didn't fire me outright. But two nice gentlemen from security escorted me to my desk to pack up my stuff, and it was pretty obvious at that point that I would not be setting foot back into 1211 Avenue of the Americas again.
So here I am. That's me in the photo, sitting in the Gawker offices, with a portrait of a rather mischievous looking Roger Ailes behind me. He was my ultimate boss for the past 8 years.
I joined Fox News Channel in July 2004 as a production assistant. I bounced around for a few years working for some now defunct shows. (Remember "The Lineup with Kimberly Guilfoyle"? No?)
In January 2007, I joined the O'Reilly Factor as an associate producer, and there I have remained ever since. That's me in this YouTube video pitching O'Reilly a story at the 4:00 mark.
I am a weasel, a traitor, a sell-out and every bad word you can throw at me... but as of today, I am free, and I am ready to tell my story, which I wasn't able to fully do for the previous 36 hours.
Stay tuned for much, much more tomorrow.