New details have emerged about Maria Bartiromo’s abrupt departure from Fox News.
The network reportedly turned against the longtime cable news host after she shared an internal Fox message with Trump adviser Peter Navarro, who then passed it “up the chain” to the White House, according to a Puck News report.
“Maria Bartiromo’s sudden split with Fox took even veteran cable news observers by surprise,” the report said. “But according to sources, the network could no longer abide her continued interest in amplifying Trump’s 2020 election fraud fantasies.”
The clash began after President Donald Trump delivered a July speech reviving false claims about the 2020 election. Bartiromo planned to cover the speech for her show and bring Navarro on-air to discuss it, according to Puck.
But instead, Fox Business executive Ralph Giordano sent a text message to Bartiromo’s producers instructing them to skip the speech.
“In an interview on Friday, Navarro told me 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,” Puck’s Dylan Byers reported. “Navarro subsequently passed that information ‘up the chain,’ he said, informing senior administration officials of the guidance.”
That prompted an unidentified high-ranking White House official to contact Fox leadership to complain about the decision, according to the Puck report. Fox News Media CEOSuzanne Scottand network president Jay Wallace were reportedly furious with Bartiromo’s decision to share internal guidance with the Trump administration.
“Now Trump, himself, is voicing his disbelief,” Dylan told readers Friday. “And Bartiromo is gearing up for a fight.”