It had to be OK’d by Roger Ailes no matter what he says. I would like to have been a fly on his iPhone when he made that call to Trump to make peace.
There may be more to this story than appears on the surface. As of July 1, 2015 Rupert Murdoch stepped down as CEO of Fox, turning it over to his sons. The sons are liberals. Ailes now reports to them. Ailes contract is up for renewal in 2016. It may be Ailes didn’t make the decision to go after Trump. He may have received marching orders from the new management.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/roger-ailes-fox-news-murdoch-james-lachlan
http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/17/media/roger-ailes-murdoch-intrigue/index.html
Britt Hume is the managing editor so he absolutely positively had to be in on it. Could be that Murdock went around Ailes to Hume. Ailes is not a editor he hires fires and pays the bills. Plus I think Trump and Ailes get along well. Ailes has zero reason to go gunning for Trump. Trump has been a regular on Fox for years.
I'm aware of that and you are correct, that could be a factor. But Roger Ailes would be a hard guy to push around. He built Fox News and I still believe it was his call. The two new young liberal bosses would hardly object.
Ailes had to say OK. It is on his shoulders.