Longtime Fox News host and Trump ally Maria Bartiromo has broken ties with Fox after more than a decade at the network and its sister channel, Fox Business.
Bartiromo’s sudden departure was announced Thursday via a short statement from the network.
“Effective
today, Maria Bartiromo is no longer with FOX News Media. In making the announcement, FOX News Media said, ‘We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 ½ years and wish her all the best on her next chapter.’”
Bartiromo was one of the most prominent financial reporters and analysts at the two channel, hosting Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo on Fox News, and Mornings with Maria weekdays on Fox Business. Her biography page on the latter’s website was deleted within minutes of the announcement.
A reason for the breakup has not been provided by either party, but an unnamed source told Vanity Fair that Bartiromo is not expected to fill the still-vacant position of White House Press Secretary.
It’s a fair question to ask. Bartiromo has long been an advocate and defender of the president both on and off the air, and the Trump administration has not been shy about padding out its roster with Fox News hosts and personalities. She became a central figure in the 2020 push by Trump and his allies to usurp the loss of former President Joe Biden’s election.
Bartiromo’s programming became a hotbed of election conspiracies and innuendo. In one now infamous interview, Bartiromo allowed former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell to spew outlandish, unsubstantiated allegations of fraud in the election with no pushback for fact checking. The interview quickly became a widely circulated lynchpin within the rights larger push to undermine the elections. Her own on-air statements became central evidence in defamation lawsuits filed by voting machine companies Smartmatic and Dominion. Fox News eventually settled the lawsuit from Dominion for a whopping $787.5 million, the claim by Smartmatic remains pending.
As recently as July, Trump continued to post praise for Bartiromo on his social media, calling her “FANTASTIC.” Regardless of her departure from Trump’s favorite network, there’s no indication that her relationship with the president is anything but intact.
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