Maria Bartiromo courting Trump-friendly network days after Fox ouster: report
Anonymous insiders say that Maria Bartiromo has already opened talks with CBS News chief Bari Weiss about a possible role on '60 Minutes.'
In an article for his newsletter, Naughty But Nice, gossip columnist Rob Shuter reported that Bartiromo and Weiss have already spoken and that a spot on '60 Minutes' is among the possibilities under discussion.
"Maria and Bari have already spoken," a television insider told Shuter. "Maria isn't sitting around licking her wounds. She's moving fast, and '60 Minutes' is absolutely in the mix. She wants to remain a major player."
The reported conversations follow Fox News Media's abrupt decision to part ways with Bartiromo after more than 12 years, a split the company described as a business decision. Fox Business quickly rebranded Mornings with Maria as Mornings with Fox Business, and her longtime colleagues made almost no mention of her during Friday's broadcast, according to Shuter.
Shuter's source framed Bartiromo's value in terms of her contacts, saying she "brings something Bari understands is valuable." The insider added that she can get "CEOs, billionaires, political power players and Wall Street titans on the phone," and that "you don't throw away a Rolodex like that."
Any move to CBS would draw scrutiny, Shuter noted. Bartiromo's exit came amid reporting that she had shared confidential Fox editorial guidance about coverage of President Donald Trump with the White House. CNN reported that the disclosure was the immediate impetus for her removal, which Fox leadership decided in August.
Weiss became editor-in-chief of CBS News last fall after Paramount acquired her outlet, The Free Press, and installed her over a news division that includes '60 Minutes' and Sunday Morning. Her arrival has drawn sustained criticism inside and outside the network, Shuter noted. Representatives for CBS News and Bartiromo have not publicly commented.
Shuter reported that Bartiromo is focused on her next act rather than the fallout.
"Maria believes she still belongs at the biggest table in television," Shuter's source said. "There is no bigger table than '60 Minutes.'"