Fox News Media announced on Thursday that it had parted ways with longtime host Maria Bartiromo with a brusque 22-word statement: “We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 1/2 years and wish her all the best on her next chapter.” As soon as the announcement was made, media observers wondered: What development led to her long tenure’s abrupt end?
The answer says a lot about Fox’s unprecedented role in the political landscape, its unhealthy relationship with the president, and the ongoing fallout of Trump’s obsession with unhinged conspiracy theories.
Anchoring both a three-hour weekday morning show on Fox Business and a weekend show on Fox News, Bartiromo spent the past several years collecting journalistic infractions.
Even among her network’s assembly of Trump friends, former employees and family members, Bartiromo stood out for her zealotry and close ties to the president. Once an award-winning financial reporter and anchor at CNBC, she joined Fox in 2013. As Trump rose to political power, she aggressively rebranded as an unrestrained MAGA warrior. She was so loyal that, according to a book by Axios’ Alex Isenstadt, Trump considered her for his 2024 running mate.
Anchoring both a three-hour weekday morning show on Fox Business and a weekend show on Fox News, Bartiromo spent the past several years collecting journalistic infractions. Her fervent support of Trump’s 2020 election denial lies played a critical role in the network agreeing to a record-setting defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. She conducted an interview with Sidney Powell, a pro-Trump election denier, which placed the election technology company at the center of an international conspiracy to alter the vote totals. That theory originated with a source who sent an email to Powell, later forwarded to Bartiromo, in which the source also declared: “The Wind tells me I’m a ghost, but I don’t believe it.”
If Bartiromo faced any pressure at all from her bosses to stay out of the fever swamps after the 2020 election, it was impossible to see it in the content of her shows. They remained a swamp of Gateway Pundit-style conspiracy theories. In a notable 2024 incident, she claimed on air that “illegals” were getting driver’s licenses and being registered to vote in Texas, a story she sourced to the wife of a friend of a friend. A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety called the allegation “simply false” and “kind of racist.”
And Fox is currently embroiled in another lawsuit that originates with a conspiracy theory that aired on her show, this one revolving around celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary’s suggestions that critics of his plan to build a data center in Utah are “proxies for the Chinese government.” (Bartiromo issued an on-air apology on June 26 and O’Leary later walked back the comments as well.)
Rather than encouraging the network’s stars to tell their viewers the truth about the president’s fantasies, Fox executives ordered them not to mention them.
Bartiromo seemed untouchable — until suddenly, Fox issued its statement. (Bartiromo subsequently retained a high-profile attorney who said she is “still employed” by the network.) The central offense that resulted in Fox apparently parting ways with her was that she gave the White House internal Fox News communications about claims Trump was pushing about China and the 2020 election.
Rather than encouraging the network’s stars to tell their viewers the truth about the president’s fantasies, Fox executives ordered them not to mention them. The hosts, Bartiromo included, followed those orders while continuing to devote their shows to praising and defending the president’s every move. But Status’ Oliver Darcy reported Thursday evening that “the text message in which Fox News brass offered their guidance was shared by Bartiromo with the White House.” Darcy did not identify his sourcing, but Puck, The New York Times and CNN subsequently matched the reporting, citing sources “familiar” with the matter. “Bartiromo not only effectively betrayed her employer, but also disclosed confidential company information, violating the terms of her employment agreement,” Darcy wrote.
A more cynical interpretation is that the Fox brass were perfectly comfortable employing Bartiromo right up until her pro-Trump zealotry put their own relationships with the White House at risk. Internal company documents revealed in the Dominion lawsuit (and the similar ongoing Smartmatic lawsuit) show that Fox executives (and stars) are keenly aware of Trump’s ability to turn their viewers against the network. It’s easy to imagine the president becoming enraged upon learning that the network he counts on for support had betrayed him on one of the issues he most cares about.
The risk Fox now faces is that by punishing Bartiromo for reportedly being too loyal to Trump, the network has revealed to the MAGA movement — and the White House — that it is not loyal enough. How will Trump respond to Fox casting off one of his strongest soldiers? (He ominously warned on Truth Social on Friday morning that Bartiromo’s “fans, of which there are many, will not be happy” with her departure.) Will he hold a grudge against other Trump loyalists, like Sean Hannity, who apparently did not disclose the network’s orders? And how will the network’s competitors on the right use the news to try to pry away Fox’s viewers? Whatever the answers, the MAGA media may be heading for chaos.
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