In this article Maria Bartiromo is disputing reports that she was terminated from her longtime gig as a host of various segments for cable TV networks Fox News and Fox Business. “The irresponsible reports that have been published stating that Maria Bartiromo was fired or is no longer an employee of Fox are absolutely and unequivocally false,” her attorney said in a Friday statement. “Make no mistake, we have the receipts and witnesses and they will come out whether through the courthouse or otherwise. Those reporting her firing or the incredulous facts supporting that fiction have exhibited a complete and utter reckless disregard for the truth.”
Fox News, in response to Bartiromo’s comments Friday, said its brief statement from a day earlier “speaks for itself.” On Thursday, Fox Corp.’s Fox News Media announced Bartiromo had parted ways with its networks. “We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 ½ years and wish her all the best on her next chapter,” Fox News said in Thursday’s statement, without providing reasoning or cause for her departure. Various media outlets have since reported that Bartiromo was fired for violating company policy.
A former CNBC anchor, Bartiromo led the daily show “Mornings with Maria,” as well as the Friday program “Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street,” on Fox Business Network. She also led Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” The conservative network Fox News is the top-rated cable TV news channel in the U.S. Bartiromo was one of the Fox News anchors named in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case in which the company accused Fox of making false on-air allegations that Dominion had helped rig the 2020 presidential election when Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden. While Bartiromo was scheduled to testify as a witness if the lawsuit went to trial, Fox agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle the lawsuit in 2023. Fox faces a similar ongoing defamation lawsuit with Smartmatic USA, in which Bartiromo is also a defendant.
Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser to President Donald Trump, wanted no part of a question from Newsmax host Greg Kelly on Tuesday night. The question concerned the termination of Fox News and Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, who exited the networks last week. Later, Puck News reported that Fox fired Bartiromo for sharing internal Fox guidance on how to cover a July 16 speech by Trump, in which the president reiterated his false claims that the 2020 election was rigged. Ralph Giordano, senior vice president of programming at Fox Business, texted Bartiromo’s producers, advising them to skip coverage of Trump’s speech. Puck, which reported that Bartiromo had planned to cover the speech, said the “primary intended recipient” was Patrick Ignozzi, the executive producer of Mornings With Maria on Fox Business. Ignozzi, who also departed the network last week, shared the guidance with Bartiromo. A lawyer for Bartiromo has claimed that reports of the former host’s firing are “false.”
On Friday, Navarro told Puck “that when Bartiromo received Giordano’s guidance, she took a screenshot and forwarded it to him to tell him that management was not letting her cover the speech—or, in his words, ‘censoring’ it.” Navarro subsequently passed that information ‘up the chain,’ he said, informing senior administration officials of the guidance. Navarro joined Tuesday’s edition of Greg Kelly Reports on Newsmax, where the host tried to ascertain “So Maria is out of a job,” Kelly said, before referring to the guidance Ignozzi received. “What did you do with it? You forwarded it up the chain. How did you– who did you show it to?” “Well, I’m gonna get in–” Navarro said, with his voice cracking. “I’m not getting into the details.”
Navarro then brought up the jail stint he did after he was found guilty in 2023 of contempt of Congress after refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena seeking his responses about his role in Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election. In 2024, Navarro was sentenced to four months in jail. “Remember, I went to prison, Greg, for not violating the executive privilege,” said Navarro, also a trade adviser in Trump’s first term, who had insisted that his conversations about subverting the election were covered by executive privilege. Navarro went on to bash Fox News for firing Bartiromo and for being insufficiently pro-Trump.
