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| Maria Bartiromo and Attorney Bryan Freedman |
Fox News Media has ended Maria Bartiromo’s shows and said she is no longer with the company, a sudden break that stunned politics and cable news even as she remains under contract—and entitled to pay—through 2028.
A Fox spokesperson said Thursday, “Effective today, Maria Bartiromo is no longer with FOX News Media.” The network called the move “a business decision.” Bartiromo last hosted Mornings With Maria on Fox Business on Aug. 7 and her Fox News program on Aug. 9. She was then told her shows would end and that she would not return even for an on-air sign-off. Executive producer Patrick Ignozzi left after the announcement.
The rupture followed a July dispute over coverage of President Trump. On July 15, Fox Business senior vice president of programming Ralph Giordano texted Bartiromo’s producers, including Ignozzi, directing them not to cover Trump’s planned primetime speech on election integrity. Trump delivered the speech July 16, repeating long-disproven doubts about the 2020 election, alleging Chinese interference and calling for stricter voting rules before the midterms.
Ignozzi forwarded the guidance to Bartiromo. According to Peter Navarro, speaking Friday to Puck’s Dylan Byers, Bartiromo screenshotted the message and sent it to him, saying management would not let her cover the speech—or was “censoring” it. Navarro said he passed that information “up the chain.”
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| Suzanne Scott |
Byers reports Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott was angered that Bartiromo shared internal guidance with the administration. Bartiromo could argue she was only telling a guest about a programming change; Hollywood lawyer Bryan Freedman, whom she hired in mid-August, is expected to make that case.
Bartiromo had grown close to Trump and senior officials and remained active in the Mar-a-Lago social scene—valuable access for Fox, but a source of headaches when she amplified his most contested claims.