Hours after Fox News Media announced on Thursday, September 3, 2026, that longtime anchor Maria Bartiromo was no longer with the company after more than 12 years, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to lament the exit of an ally who had given him a platform for years. A day later, her attorney said flatly that reports she had been fired were untrue.
On Thursday evening, Trump wrote that he found it hard to believe Bartiromo would no longer be hosting her programs on Fox News and Fox Business, pointing out that she had helmed three separate shows that consistently ranked first. He called her a complete professional and a genuine fighter, predicted that her many admirers would be unhappy about the news, and closed with a blessing for her.
Fox’s Brief Statement Gave No Reason
The network’s announcement ran two sentences. Fox News Media said that, effective that day, Bartiromo was no longer with the company, thanked her for 12 1/2 years of work and wished her well in her next chapter. It offered no explanation for the split and included no comment from Bartiromo. A Fox News spokesperson separately characterized the move as a business decision.
Bartiromo last appeared on the air in early August, though the final episode of the program bearing her name aired on Fox Business the morning of the announcement. Shortly after her exit was announced, multiple outlets reported that her top producer was also out, with both departures said to be tied to the same alleged leak of internal editorial guidance to a Trump administration official. Her biography page on the Fox website has since returned a “Server error. Person not found.” message.
Her Attorney Says She Wasn’t Fired
On Friday, September 4, attorney Bryan Freedman pushed back hard, saying assertions that his client had been fired or is no longer working at Fox are “absolutely and unequivocally false.” He called the coverage irresponsible, vowed to prove it wrong and threatened legal action, describing Bartiromo as one of the hardest-working journalists in the business and noting that she hosted three number one rated shows on Fox channels.
“Make no mistake, we have the receipts and witnesses,” Freedman said in his statement. Fox responded to the denial by saying that its release speaks for itself. Freedman has previously represented broadcasters Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson in disputes with media employers. As of September 4, Bartiromo herself had not publicly commented on her exit.
A Text Message and a Screengrab
The following account comes from a person with knowledge of events, who requested anonymity to describe internal network matters. In July, Trump delivered a speech on election security that he wanted the television networks to cover. A Fox Business executive then texted the executive producers of several programs, telling them not to keep the speech alive on air the following day — a caution rooted in the network’s own record on the subject, and in Trump’s.
The executive producer of Bartiromo’s morning business show forwarded that text to her, according to the same person, and Bartiromo sent a screengrab of it to a Trump associate. The White House then challenged Fox.
In the July 16 speech, Trump asserted that recent American elections had been rigged and stolen, and alleged that China illegally accessed millions of voter files in an attempt to influence the 2018 and 2020 elections.
Speculation followed the Fox announcement about whether Bartiromo, who is close to the president, might move into the White House press secretary job left open when Karoline Leavitt stepped down in August. Vice President JD Vance, speaking at a White House briefing on Thursday, told reporters he did not believe she would take that role. He praised her warmly, calling her an amazing person and talent and a dear friend, while saying he had not spoken with her and did not know the back story. Trump had earlier appointed Bartiromo and Fox News host Laura Ingraham to the board of the John F. Kennedy Center.
Shows Renamed as Legal Fights Continue
Fox moved quickly to strip her name from the schedule. “Mornings with Maria,” which aired weekdays from 6 to 9 a.m. ET, became “Mornings with FOX Business” with rotating anchors beginning Friday, September 4. “Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street” was renamed “FBN’s Wall Street,” hosted by Cheryl Casone this week before rotating anchors take over. Her Fox News program “Sunday Morning Futures” is being hosted by former Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz for the time being, with a permanent host to be named later.
Bartiromo arrived at Fox Business in 2014 after two decades at CNBC, where she was nicknamed “The Money Honey,” hosted “Closing Bell” and became the first journalist to report live daily from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. At Fox she became a fixture, her programs filling more than 16 hours a week across the business network and Fox News Channel.
Her coverage of the 2020 election also made her a named defendant in two defamation cases. Dominion Voting Systems sought $1.6 billion in a 2021 suit alleging that Bartiromo let false election claims air to keep pro-Trump viewers from defecting; Fox settled that case for $787.5 million in April 2023. A separate suit brought by Smartmatic remains active, and until Thursday, Bartiromo was the only individual defendant in that litigation who was still employed by Fox. Attorneys for the network were in court that morning for a hearing tied to the Smartmatic case.