Oct. 14 (UPI) -- NBC News president Noah Oppenheim denied on Monday claims made by journalist Ronan Farrow that appear in his new book, Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators.
The book, which mainly recounts Farrow's investigation of Harvey Weinstein and is set to be released Tuesday, alleges that NBC knew about former Today anchor Matt Lauer's sexual misconduct before he was fired in November 2017.
The book also states that Lauer may have played a role in NBC ending Farrow's investigative piece on Weinstein that was later published by the New Yorker in October 2017.
"We have no secrets and nothing to hide," Oppenheim said in a memo to his staff in response.
"Now that we've read Farrow's book, it's clear -- his smear rests on the allegation that NBC's management knew about and took steps to hide Matt Lauer's misconduct before his firing in November of 2017. Without that, he has no basis on which to rest his second conspiracy theory -- that his Harvey Weinstein reporting was squashed to protect Lauer," he continued.
"Farrow alleges there were employees who reported Lauer's behavior prior to November of 2017 and were paid settlements to silence them. Not only is this false, the so-called evidence Farrow uses in his book to support the charge collapses under the slightest scrutiny."
Farrow appeared on CBS This Morning on Monday and responded to Oppenheim's comments.
"Look, this book is a extraordinarily, meticulously fact-checked work of investigative journalism. It's two years of reporting," Farrow said. "I'll let the reporting in the book stand on its own. We're very confident in it."
Lauer also recently denied claims in Farrow's book that he raped former NBC News staffer Brooke Nevils at the Sochi Olympics in February 2014.
Farrow had interviewed Nevils for his book with Nevils saying that Lauer anally raped her.
"In a new book, it is alleged that an extramarital, but consensual, sexual encounter I have previously admitted having, was in fact an assault. It is categorically false, ignores the facts, and defies common sense," Lauer said.
