Fox News anchor Howard Kurtz has repeatedly claimed, most famously during a live interrogation on CNN, that his relationship with Fox News contributor Lauren Ashburn amounted to a “limited venture” for which the MediaBuzz host was compensated on a piecemeal “freelance basis.” Confidential documents obtained by Gawker, however, tell a dramatically different story.

The Daily Download had an inexplicable presence on the internet—why was top shelf pundit Howard Kurtz doing a low-rent YouTube series? It turns out his co-host Lauren Ashburn had an inexplicable presence of her own: a spacious office next to Howie at The Daily Beast. Where she didn't work.

Don't feel too bad for the recently canned Daily Beast pundit: Howard Kurtz still has the Daily Download, the bizarre internet talk show that kept him curiously busy even when he had a day job. And it's more than just some hokey hobby—Kurtz's pet production is under federal contract.