Current TV Retains Crisis PR Experts for Anticipated Battle With Keith Olbermann (Exclusive)

4:21 PM PDT 3/30/2012 by Marisa Guthrie

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The network retains lawyers and crisis PR experts Mark Fabiani and Chris Lehane, who have represented Bill and Hillary Clinton and Lance Armstrong.

Current TV has hired crisis public relations firm Fabiani & Lehane to represent the network through what is likely to be a very public and bitter legal battle with Keith Olbermann.

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Veterans of the Clinton administration, Mark Fabiani and Chris Lehane specialize in steering politicians through public scandals. Newsweek dubbed them “Masters of Disaster” for their work on behalf of the Clintons during the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky imbroglios.

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Fabiani also represented Lance Armstrong amid a federal probe over allegations about performance-enhancing drugs. And Lehane has a relationship with Current co-founder Al Gore, serving as deputy campaign manager on Gore’s ill-fated 2000 presidential bid. Fabiani & Lehane also represented the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers during the 2007 Writers Guild strike.

In a statement, Olbermann disputed implications made by Gore and Current co-founder Joel Hyatt that Olbermann ran afoul of Current’s “values of respect, openness, collegiality and loyalty to our viewers.”

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Olbermann also all but assured legal action, writing in his own statement released Friday: “It goes almost without saying that the claims against me implied in Current's statement are untrue and will be proved so in the legal actions I will be filing against them presently.”

Olbermann has his own formidable legal representative. Patricia Glaser is one of Hollywood’s fiercest litigators. She represented Conan O’Brien during his bitter legal battle with NBC. And she represented Olbermann during his exit from MSNBC, winning favorable departure terms that allowed Olbermann to sign a lucrative deal with Current.